[Electronic Text Notation: We believe this electronic text to be a completely and totally faithfully accurate of the original with four format modifications: (1) Words hyphenated because they came at the end of a sentence have been "rejoined"; (2) Mirna's letter to Richard, which begins at page 96 has been placed in quotations to separate it from the rest of the text; (3) footnotes are separated from the rest of the text by _____; (4) the bottom of each original page of text is marked by ================================. The text was scanned with an OCR and checked for conceptual continuity, but a spelling checker program was not used due to some of the spellings used in the original text. The contact information, California address, and "800" number may no longer be accurate, but copies of the tapes, book, and other material can be obtained from: William Begnaud 303 Prairie Dr. LaFayette, La. 70501 home voice/fax 318 232-7524 This text is provided with the permission and approval of the Messengers.] THE MIRACLE OF DAMASCUS by the publican "Go and preach to all nations, and tell them without fear, that they have to work for unity." _Our Lord to Mirna Nazour Visionary of Damascus, Syria THE MESSENGERS OF UNITY Glendale, California 91203 ================================ IMPRIMATUR: + Rom Catholic Bishop Paulus Barkhash Damascus Copyright (c) 1989 by JMJ Publishing Co. Glendale, California Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 89-92353 ISBN: 0-941427-04-9 Printed and bound in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. STRICT OBEDIENCE THE MESSENGERS OF UNITY have a policy of strict obedience to the Churches (dioceses). They pledge to do nothing in the way of promoting The Miracle of Damascus without the permission of the superiors of those Churches or dioceses where they work. This means they will not publish, preach, pray or promote in, nor travel to any area without the approval of the local bishops. CHURCHES AND THE POOR Any Church or charity that wishes to promote this book or related items from the Messengers of Unity, and has received permission from its superior to do so, may sell them at a profit. This is in compliance with the messages themselves, since such profits will go to the Churches or to the poor. THE MESSENGERS OF UNITY 249 N. Brand Blvd.-Suite 584 Glendale, CA 91203 Telephone toll free: 1 -800-88-UNITY 1990 ================================ DEDICATION This book is dedicated to all those who WORK for the unity of all the Christian Churches. There are many who talk unity, many who want God to effect it, many who want a miracle, many who want Mirna to come to their town or their house; but there are few who are willing to give to God what He is asking of them. Five people out of the initial thousands who knew about this miraculous series of occurrences have resolved to give their all to God's requests. These five have organ- ized THE MESSENGERS OF UNITY. Vatche Hovsepian has risked his house, his business, his cars, his life to answer God's plea. Nabil Choukeir had a video shop three hundred feet from Mirna's house in Damascus, Syria. For eight years he took videos of all that happened at her House in Soufanich and gave them free to anyone who asked. Never has he made so much as one penny from the films. He has given his all to Our Lady. Armen Hovsepian went from a life of sin to being a soldier of Mary in a single day. Armen has given over his entire life to this work for unity. Never has he been paid even one penny. Joseph Haddad organized the best prayer sessions in the United States for Mirna's visits. Every church she went to was packed, and concelebrated Masses were common. We must also thank Father Joseph Malouli. For without his help and his prayers, we would have been stopped by the devil long ago. He, and he alone has the last word in The Messengers of Unity. ================================ LETTER OF APPROVAL FROM THE ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF DAMASCUS ARCHEVECHE GREC-CATHOLIQUE BOSRA, HAURAN ET JABAL AL - ARAB ___________ KHABAB - HAURAN R. A. S. Kahabab, Le June,18,1990 Peace and Benediction and Prayer with God's Salutary Blessings to all those who are reading this interesting book about the Soufanieh extraordinary events. These events are still occuring since late 1982 till this hour. I, myself, was more than one tine, an eyewitness of the oil coming out of the hands and face of Mrs. Myrna and from copies of the Soufanieh Icon. So, we congratulate the writer for assuming the responsibly of publishing the Soufanieh events for God's Glory and to Honor the Virgin Mary and to motivate the believers to prayer, penitence, and urgent work for the Unity of Church as was said in the Virgin's Mary letters to Mrs.Myrna. As we motivate the believers to read this precious book, we assure then that what was mentioned concerning the supernatural happenings, words and letters about the Soufanieh events are identical to what happened. So we ask God for the Benediction and Success for the readers of this precious book and all those who contributed in its publishing. /S/ (seal) ================================ TESTIMONIALS Patriarchs & Bishops DAMASCUS: Patriarch Zakka I Iwas Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Hazeem IV Greek Orthodox Patriarch Maximos Haklm Greek Catholic (Melkite) Auxiliary Bishop Francois Aboumoukh Armenian Orthodox Bishop Francois Abou-Moukh (Nihil Obstat-1987) Roman Catholic Bishop Boulos Pandeli Greek Orthodox Bishop Stephanos Haddad Greek Orthodox Bishop Youssef al-Mounayer Syrian Catholic Bishop Boulos Coussa Armenian Catholic SYRIA: Bishop Boulos Bourkhocke Greek Catholic (Khabab) Bishop Neophyte Edelby Greek Catholic (Aleppo) Biship J. B. Habib Hafouri Greek Catholic (Hassakeh) vii ================================ viii The Miracle of Damascus LEBANON: Bishop Artoine Belouneh Syrian Catholic (Beirut) Bishop Nicolas HajJe Greek Catholic (Lebanon) IRAQ: Archbishop George Garmo Chaldean Catholic JERUSALEM: Bishop Bahnane Jijaou Syrian Orthodox ALEXANDRIA: Bishop Choreveque Benoit Syrian Orthodox AUSTRALIA: Bishop George Riachi Greek Catholic AMERICA: Bishop Youssef Taouil Greek Catholic Chor-Bishop Joseph C. Feghali Maronite ================================ TESTIMONIALS Priests GREEK ORTHODOX: Father Dimitri Ma'amar Father George Gilo Father Samih Mansour Damaskinos Father Youhanna al-Talli Father Constantine Yanni Father Georges Abou Zakhm Father Boulos Challah Father Myro Zayat Father Michel Farah Father Nicolas Youssef Rizk Father Athanassios Salloum Father Elias Abdouka Father Ibrahim Sarrouj Father Girios Badra Father Spiro Sanna Father Ayoub Father Girgi Aljatt Father Anis Elius Deacon Spiro Habbour Deacon Elias Kfoui (now Bishop) MELKITE_GREEK CATHOLIC: Msgr. Adib Badaoui Father Mirti Hagi Athanassiou Father Elias Zahlaoui Father Gibrail Khoury (continued on next page) ix ================================ x The Miracle of Damascus MELKITE_GREEK CATHOLIC: (continued from previous page) Father Ibrahim Mosleh Father Antoune Hibbi Father Antoune Hannouche Father Elias Baladi Father Elias Sargi Father Naaman Rouaini Father Saba Rihani Father Mikhail Father Saad Sawaqued Father Hanna Dagher Father Halim Abdallah ARMENIAN CATHOLIC: Father Antoune Adam Father Jean Ortchanian Father Antranig Atramian Father Ephrem Derghazarian Father Adevik Talatinian Father George Father Youssef Khoury Father Philippe Mansour ROMAN CATHOLIC: Father Joseph Malouli Father Paul Fadell Father Maroun Lahan Father Pierre Toussa (O.F.M.) Father Marcel Latricon Father Michel Regalon (Salesien) Father Elias (Capuchin) Father llario Anthoniazzi Father Guiseppe Civerra Father Bitar Father Masri (O.F.M.) (continued on next page) ================================ Testimonials xi ROMAN CATHOLIC: (continued from previous page) Father Pierre Boz Father Colombini Father Jean Claude Darrigaud Father Mansour Mistrih (O.F.M.) Brother Galeb Ammar (Capuchin) RUSSIAN GREEK CATHOLIC: Father Alexei Smith MARONITE CATHOLIC: Father Naoum Atallah Father Michel Attalah Father Francois Ballouz Father Elias Abdelmalek Father Boulos Sleiman Father Joseph Ibrahim Father Mass'oud Mass'oud Father Ibrahim Salloum Father Khalil Rustom Father Mouwannes Father Laurence Fares SYRIAN CATHOLIC: Father Georges Masri Father Mounir Sakkal Father Fawaz Ayoub Father Elias Jarjour Father Mikail Chahine Father Razzouk Elias Hannouche Father Gabriiel Killizli Father Mansour Father Nasri Salmo Father Mansoor Yorkhanna ================================ xii The Miracle of Damascus CHALDEAN CATHOLIC: Father Emmanuel D. Rayes Father Annes Hanna Father Sarhad Jammo ================================ C O N T E N T S DEDICATION v LETTER OF THE CATHOLIC BISHOP OF DAMASCUS vi TESTIMONIALS_PATRIARCHS & BISHOPS............vii TESTOMINIALS_PRIESTS ........................ix ATTESTATION OF THE PUBLICAN .................xiv INTRODUCTION.................... xv CHAPTER1 The Miracle of Damascus ......................1 CHAPTER 2 Testing the Spirits .........................62 CHAPTER 3 The Kingdom of Heaven........................100 CHAPTER 4 Analyzing the Messages.......................114 CHAPTER 5 History of Divisions.........................138 CHAPTER 6 Attempts at Unity ...........................156 CHAPTER 7 What Unites?.................................166 CHAPTER 8 Organizing Towards Unity.....................182 SUPPLEMENTS .................................192 Xlll ================================ ATTESTATION OF THE PUBLICAN I stand full of confusion and doubt, asking the Most High Lord from the bottom of my soul, to transfer my pen to the hands of an angel, in order that no injustice may be done to the subject of this discourse; or that He Himself, the all- powerful and most wise God, may speak for me and enlighten my faculties, so that, governed by His divine light, they may be fit instruments of His will and truth and be free from the human frailty of an ignorant man. In obedience to the Decree of Pope Urban VIII, I declare that I do not attribute more than human faith to any extraordinary facts narrated in this book, nor do I anticipate the definitive judgment of the Church, to which I offer herewith and beforehand my fullest submission. xiv ================================ INTRODUCTION It is a paradox that I wrote this book. I have made it my avocation to write against apparitions, mystics, cults, and new religious movements. I have no fear in writing against these things, as it is easy to spot the false with simple discernments from the Bible and the teachings of the Church. Moreover, true saints throughout the ages have warned against such things and have given great guidelines to follow. Padre Pio often saw the devil in the form of: Christ Crucified, his Spiritual Director, St. Francis, and the Virgin Mary. He was never fooled. Padre Pio warned Raffaelina Cerase: "The devil, as you know, is a great artificer of evil in which he has been engaged only too long. When he sees how keenly you desire it (the miraculous), he could deceive you by some diabolical illusion or apparition disguised as an angel of light. Who would believe it? This unhappy apostate even knows how to disguise himself as a Capuchin and to act the part quite well. I beg you to believe one who has undergone an experience of this nature." As I said, it is easy to spot the false, but it is not so easy to be sure of the true. It makes me very uneasy to write in favor of an apparition as I am doing this time. I believe, however, with all my heart (leaving the final judgment to the Church) that God sent me to Damascus for no other reason than to spread this message throughout the world. You can judge for yourself as you read this book. Why me? Since I normally write against apparitions, perhaps I will be believed. My readers know I am not easily fooled. This introduction, at any rate, will confine itself to the dangers of false apparitions. These dangers were never more xv ================================ xvi The Miracle of Damascus apparent to me as they were while writing this story. God, in His infinite wisdom, saw to it that I became isolated in a monastery (I am not a religious) until I finished His work. Without this place, it would have taken me five times as long to complete it. There (in this closed community) the effects of the false become more and more conspicuous. There were over one hundred seminarians, ten priests, and some guest teachers in the monastery. For over ten years they lived with a charismatic, mystical leader, who got his instructions direct from Heaven, or so he said. Oh, I don't doubt his sincerity. Mere theory, this, but what probably happened is that he lost his confidence in his spiritual director, his superiors, his Church. Once this happens, Satan gains a foothold, for he has succeeded in convincing the man that he (and not his spiritual director) is the last judge in all things spiritual. When this person is deprived of this guidance, he will fall into "every vice, even the most abominable. He will be so blinded that nothing will then avail to snatch from the road to perdition on which he is launched. "Such a person will reach the stage at which he will believe he has no further need of help, even of God's help, and this will be apparent at least from his actions. "As a proof of what I tell you, there is no need to turn to what the history of past centuries teaches us, because we can see it happening before our very eyes and being repeated thousands of times at every moment. (Padre Pio) This is what probably happened to this man. (He is known all over the world.) Eventually he was exposed. The evidence against him was monumental. Once the priests (his superiors) started to suspect him, they did an extraordinary job of gathering proof of his wrongdoings. This proof piled higher and higher before they acted against him. Notwithstanding this evidence (it would shock you), half the community still fol- ================================ Introduction xvii lows him. The rest are disillusioned, depressed, quiet. It is in this atmosphere of upset, confused and muddled seminarians that I tried to write this book. Actually, I believe God sent me there. (My coming wasn't of my own choice.) I believe He wanted me to use my past experience and what I have learned in this community. I must show my reader the dangers of false apparitions and false mystics, and at the same time, present this true story without it being associated with them, or to simply put this story on the shelf with 700 other pseudo-apparitions since Fatima. This will happen if I don't warn the reader. Pray, then, that I make you understand. The hardest thing for me over the years has been to answer this question: "Why would Satan allow people to become good, holy, religious, to pray more, to stop sinning, etc? What would he have to gain?" The answer is diffusion, confusion, and disillusionment. For example, how many of you know about a true apparition of Our Lady in Nicaragua in 1978? How many know about an apparition in Japan within the past few years? And, of course, Damascus has been going on for eight years. Not many, I'll bet! Diffusion! How many lovers of Mary know that Lucia of Fatima is still receiving visits from Our Lord? How many lovers of Mary are still promoting the messages of Fatima? How many are promoting other apparitions and think Fatima is old hat? Diffusion! In the community I sat for lunch and dinner everyday with a Professor of Moral Ethics. He knew I was writing a book about a miracle and that there are "messages from Heaven." After two months of conversation twice a day, he still doesn't know one word of the messages from Damascus. Why? It is not because I didn't try to tell him. Everyday, at every lunch and dinner, he told me over and ================================ xviii The Miracle of Damascus over about another "so-called apparition." He knew I didn't believe in it, and with good reason. (Pay attention to where I am trying to take you.) He was so busy trying to convince me of this other apparition, he had no time even to listen to the messages of this book. As far as he is concerned, if I don't believe in his, mine must be false. Satan has won again. Diffusion! Another man, in this same monastery, wouldn't even sit with me. I don't believe in the mystic mentioned above. He does; and so, I must be bad, Satanic, an adversary of God. He will soon become a priest. God help us. Diffusion! There are apparitions in the world today that say Vatican II was Satanic, that Pope Paul Vl was a false pope, that the New Mass is not real. There are others that say all religions are the same in the eyes of God: Moslem, Protestant, Catho- lic, everything. Some say the Anti-Christ is alive. Many say they are the voice of God and that we should no longer listen to the Church, since it is no longer orthodox. Finally, hundreds are predicting the Second Coming of Christ and the end of the world. I'm not talking about things years ago. I'm talking about apparitions that are going on right now, this very minute. Confusion? Even though I mostly write against these things, there are 25 supernatural happenings in the past 80 years that I do believe in. I have not become disillusioned. The brothers, priests, etc., of this house, were fooled for a long time by a mystic, and now, they don't want to hear about, talk about, think about anything supernatural_not even Fatima. They were fooled--fooled badly. They don't want to think about the supernatural, not now, not ever. Satan has won again. How? Disillusionment! Once I finished the book in Rome, I went back to the United States. No sooner did I arrive than Mirna came to California. Again the divine hand of God was at work. Day after day Mirna sat with me going over all the details of the visions, the messages, the meanings, and how we should bring about unity. ================================ Introduction xix In between all these sessions with Mirna, people by the hundreds came to pray with her everyday. And everyday without exception oil came from her hands or an Icon. Sometimes there was a cure. The oil from her hands comes when she prays, when a priest gives her a blessing, when she shakes the hand of a bishop, when we are talking about unity or when we are simply loving each other and God is happy with us. Some days there were two, three, four, or five miracles. As I completed the last words of this book, the oil poured around me, people were being cured of body and spirit. In the evening prayers, I gave short talks on the miracle, and then everyone prayed with Mirna. In the afternoon, between the prayers, we worked on the book. But no matter how many miracles they see, many could not stop talking about other apparitions that have not been approved by the Church. Finally we had to make up a sign in very large letters. We wrote: MIRNA AND "THE MESSENGERS OF UNITY" HAVE PERMISSION FROM THE BISHOPS OF DAMASCUS TO ANNOUNCE THE MESSAGES AND THE MIRACLES OF SOUFANIEH. WE DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO SPREAD INFORMATION ABOUT ANY OTHER APPARITION. PLEASE DO NOT TALK ABOUT OR BRING LITERATURE ABOUT ANY OTHER REPORTED MIRACLE. The Messengers of Unity Why is this so important? Because in order to attract the priests and bishops of the world to the Miracle of Damascus we have to become noted for obedience to the churches. We do not want people to change their beliefs. That is not our job. We just want to concentrate on the messages to Mirna. Moreover, some of these other reported apparitions have exactly the opposite messages from the messages of Soufanieh. They have many reported cures, but not one provable cure. They have many reported miracles, but not one that Satan, himself, could not do. They have much apparent holiness, ================================ xx The Miracle of Damascus but the long-term fruits are bad. The followers of Jim Jones had apparent holiness. One boy (from one of these other apparitions) became very holy for almost six months, saying the Rosary everyday and going to Mass seven days a week. Then he fell into Satalic worship. He began to play Satanic music and beat his head against the walls. Mirna was asked to pray for him. I don't know how he is now. But the greatest example of these problems can be shown in a comparison of two good and two bad days of prayer with Mirna. First, the two good days. There was a very holy priest, who said a prayer to St. Michael against Satan and then blessed Mirna with a crucifix and a holy relic. The minute he did it, oil came from her hands. A second time, a holy priest blessed a house wlth holy water to drive out the devils. Mirna was with him. As he blessed the house, oil began to mix with the holy water. In all the hundreds of times I saw Mirna pray in California, only twice was there no miracle. Once was during a Mass where the priest gave a sermon against unity. The other time is very, very important. There were four hundred people praying with Mirna. I gave a talk about unity before the prayers. Mirna prayed for over one and one half hours, but no oil. She finally quit. She looked at me and as if to say, "I don't know why?" But I knew why. In spite of the sign we had put up, and in spite of our pleas, a priest came with ten of his followers. They passed through the crowds, handing out medals, pictures and messages of an unapproved apparition, as we were trying to pray. There was no miracle, because we let Satan into our group. What does Satan have to gain by making people seem more holy, pray more and stop sinning? ================================ Introduction xxi What does Satan have to gain? A great deal I would guess! He sees all the world at once. He has a pretty good idea of what God and Mary are up to. He wants to stop them. I hope and pray you don't fall for his traps. So, with these crosses, with my eyes wide open, with full knowledge of the future problems, I write this book, hoping upon hope that someone will read it, believe it, and act on it. For I firmly believe that if we don't do what God wants in these messages, God will unify us anyway. We will not like how God does it. Then some will say, "But Lord, if you had told us?" ================================ THE MIRACLE OF DAMASCUS ================================ CHAPTER 1 The Miracle of Damascus On November 22, 1982, in the old city of Damascus, within walking distance of the House of Ananias (where Paul became the light of Christ to the gentiles), a strange new light began to shine, dim at first, but (with the grace of God) a beacon to relight the world. A young girl named Mirna prayed over the bed of her slster- in-law, Layla. She was very sick. Two other women prayed with her, an Orthodox woman, and a Moslem woman. As they prayed, the Moslem woman noticed light coming from Mirna's hands. (Mirna didn't notice it.) After the light, oil began to flow right out of her skin. Mayada Kowzaly shouted at her to look at her hands. Mirna, confused, didn't know what was happening nor what to do about it. Mayada quickly told her to put her hands on Layla, the sick woman. She was instantly cured. And so the light began to shine in this bewildered young woman. Mirna had just turned 18 and had only been married six months. l That evening her husband, Nicholas, came by to pick Mirna up. Excited, they told him what happened. He reprimanded Mirna severely. Neither of them knew what to make of it. On November 25 Mirna's mother was cured in the same manner. But this was only a flicker of light. The true miracle of Damascus was about to start. These bizarre happenings _____ 1. She had known her husband, Nicolas Nazour, for some time. Her sister had married his brother. Nicolas had left Damascus to work in Germany and Saudi Arabia. He came back to Syria to find himself a good wife. They were both only mildly religious. l ================================ 2 The Miracle of Damascus were only paving the way for what would come that same week. Open the Doors November 27 is the anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin Mary to St. Catherine Laboure and the Miraculous Medal. It is also known as the start of the Age of Mary. This will become more and more relevant as this story unfolds. At any rate, on November 27, 1982, a three-inch tall picture of the Virgin Mary and Christ Child in a cheap plastic frame began to exude oil. The oil flowed out from the bottom of the Icon and onto the floor next to Nicolas and Mirna's bed. Oil again appeared on Mirna's hands. Nicolas went out to call all his relatives to see what was happening. They came in and began to pray. Mirna was praying with them. Within the first hour, four dishes of oil came out of the Icon. Soon all sound began to disappear like a vacuum from Mirna's ears. She could hear no sound at all. She looked around. Everyone was still praying out loud, but she could hear nothing. Everything was total silence. This silence lasted a long time. She laid her head on the dresser a few inches in front of the Icon. Mirna, whose real name is Mary, heard a woman's soft voice as if from inside a seashell: MARY, DO NOT BE FRIGHTENED. 2 I AM WITH YOU. OPEN THE DOORS AND DO NOT DEPRIVE ANYONE FROM SEEING ME... LIGHT A CANDLE FOR ME. Mirna thought she was imagining things. She was afraid to tell anyone. Two minutes went by as she thought about the words. Suddenly the lights in the house went out. Mirna had to light a candle. _____ 2. These are the first words used by the angel at Fatima and the first words used by Mary at Fatima--"Do not be frightened." ================================ The Miracle of Damascns 3 The moment she lit it, the lights came back on. She remembered the words: "LIGHT A CANDLE FOR ME." She wished she had done it right away. The Icon poured continuously for four days. They gathered the oil in bowl after bowl. From that day to this thousands of candles have been lit in the house and all over the world for the Virgin Mary The light is getting brighter each year. The following day a Catholic priest, Father Elias Zahlaoui, was called to Nicolas' house. By the time he arrived, the courtyard was filled with emotional people. Other priests arrived. The authorities brought in a physician with four security officers. They took the picture out of its frame and discovered that oil was dropping from the Icon itself. They put it back and asked Mirna to wash her hands. She did so. They went with her to the setting room and asked her to pray in their presence. Immediately oil came from her hands. The doctor examined her hands and said to the officers, "God is great." They took pieces of cotton soaked in the oil and left the house. Since then the authorities have taken a respectful stand regarding the events at Soufanieh. Father E. Zahlaoui asked questions of all the family. He then asked to speak with Mirna alone. He asked her some questions: "Mirna, what do you think about all that is happening?" "I feel that my heart is missing. I don't know what is happening to me." "Do you have the habit of praying a lot?" asked father. "Father, don't make any illusion. I turned eighteen recently. I lived like any young girl of my age. I have been married only seven months. What do you think that I can be? My daily prayer is limited to the Lord's Prayer and a Hail Mary. Every Wednesday I accompany my mother-in-law to the Church of the Holy Cross." 3 _____ 3. Mirna and Nicolas liked to dance and swim and laugh. They were very normal. He had saved a bit of money in his travels and (cont. on pg. 4) ================================ 4 The Miracle of Damascus During the meeting, Mirna's sister entered the room. She was quite upset. "Father, would you please pray with Mirna? The oil has stopped coming out of the picture." Father was surprised at the question and tried to avoid the request, but then asked Mirna if she would. "As you wish, Father." "What about all these people crowded in the room?" he asked. "I shall send them out." They knelt in front of the Icon. Father Zehlaoui knelt behind her so he could watch her and the Icon at the same time. Mirna liked the oil coming from the Icon, but she didn't like it coming from her hands. So, in a low, calm voice she said: "Oh, Virgin, do not allow the oil to pour from my hands and to stop flowing from your picture. People are coming for you, not me. I kiss your feet. You are the source." Without looking at Father Zehlaoui, she spoke to him: "Father, I feel like the Virgin has entered into me." Father would later write: "Hearing these words, I felt a shivering in all my body, and I saw a very brilliant liquid flowing abundantly from her palms like a sponge that we press. At the same time, drops of oil piled up on the glass of the Icon and flowed slowly." Father E. Zahlaoui was confused. He went to see his Bishop. He told his story and let him smell a piece of cotton impreg- nated with oil. The Bishop said it had the smell of Holy Myron and told him to "keep on watching but with circum- spection and prudence." 4 After he left the Bishop, Father called Dr. Hunein Siage, a _____ could speak many languages. They had only recently returned from their honeymoon in Rome where they had an audience with the Holy Father and Nicolas made his first confession in St. Peter's Cathedral. 4. This statement of the Bishop regarding Holy Myron is very significant. When oil is prepared for the many sacraments where it is used, from 30 to 60 different herbs are added to it. It has a very special smell. It is the smell of the oil of the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders, Extreme Unction, etc. The oil is called Holy Myron. ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 5 famous epidermologist and professor at Damascus University. "Doctor, can the human body exude oil?" "The human body can perspire," answered the doctor, "but it is sweat. In the case of a strong agony, it may exude drops of blood." Back at Nicolas and Mirna's house a top ranking officer of the police asked Nicolas if he would like them to close off access to his house because of the large crowds. Nicolas thought about the message, "open the doors." At the same time, he was irritated with all that was happening. He replied in a sarcastic voice, "Who opened the house will close it. If it depends on me, I will not open the door of my house to anybody." Since then, the door of the house has always been open. No one even need knock. In those first days, thousands of people visited the Icon day and night. Among them were non-Christians, Moslems, Orthodox, and Catholics of every denomination. Many came from Al Djazireh. Sometimes groups came at 4:30 A.M. At one point Nicolas and Mirna could not get in or out of their house. They had to pull loose boards off the second floor wall and call out to their neighbors to go and get them some food. There were times when people slept in their bed for more than a week at a time. Nicolas and Mirna had to sleep on the floor or sofa. Only Mirna and the 70-year-old mother of Nicolas are there to clean up after the crowds to this day. Never have they closed the doors. First Apparition On the night of December 15, 1982, while large numbers of the faithful were praying in front of the Icon, suddenly Mirna felt something pulling on her arm. The odd thing about this was that it happened at exactly the same time of night that the angel had led Catherine Laboure to the chapel to see the Virgin Mary (11:37 P.M.). Mirna had never heard of Catherine Laboure, though, and she was now being pulled upstairs to the roof terrace of the house. ================================ 6 The Miracle of Damascus "I felt a power pushing me, and I was afraid," she said afterward. "Trembling, I knelt face to the floor. When I raised up my head, I saw the Virgin Mary in front of me. She shined as if She were covered with diamonds. I was afraid, and I ran away screaming." Mirna ran to her sister-in-law, who lived on the upper deck of the house with her husband and children. She ran into her arms screaming, "Helene, Helene, the Virgin!" Helene woke with a start but couldn't see anything. Mirna could not stop crying. Awad, her brother-in-law, carried her down to her floor and into the living room. Nicolas was beside himself. He didn't know what to do. How could he console his wife? This power was bigger than he could handle. His house, his wife, his whole family was in turmoil. Father Elias Zahlaoui talked with her. "What do you mean, 'She was like diamonds?' Did She have diamond rings?" "No! Her entire body and Her clothes were like shining diamonds." "The Holy Virgin has certainly a mission to confide to you," the good father explained. "I think She will come back. You have to prepare yourself with fervent prayers." He taught her a prayer to say:. Oh, Virgin, prepare me to receive You well, to understand better what You want to tell me." "Only that?" asked Mirna. "Only that!" responded the father. First Message On the night of December 18, 1982 (again at exactly the same hour, 11:37 P.M., that Catherine Laboure talked to the Virgin Mary), Mirna was drawn (or gently pulled from the back of the arm) to the open terrace of the house. About ten people followed her to the roof including her husband and her father. Across the street, in the upper part of a large tree, Mirna saw a large, luminous, white globe like a large diamond ball sitting on a tree limb. As she watched, the ball opened, split- ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 7 ting from top and dividing into two half-moons. As the halves opened, a bow of light appeared over the top, and inside was the same beautiful lady. As the ball disappeared, the lady seemed to be standing on the branch of the tree. She had a white veil that covered all Her hair. The veil was a part of Her dress. Over Her right shoulder was a sky-blue cape that wrapped around Her back and over Her left side. The white dress covered Her feet, and only Her hands could be seen. The dress and cape seemed to be made of white and blue light. From Her right hand, between the second and third fingers, hung a long Rosary. She floated across the air above the street. Mirna couldn't see Her feet moving. As She moved towards Mirna, a street of pure light appeared behind Her like a road in the sky. She passed right through the railing of the terrace. When She was within two feet of Mirna, She stopped. This time Mirna didn't run away. She thought everyone was seeing the same vision. The Holy Mother spoke gently and slowly in classical Arabic: MY CHILDREN, REMEMBER GOD BECAUSE GOD IS WITH US. YOU KNOW EVERYTHING AND YET YOU KNOW NOTHING. YOUR KNOWLEDGE IS AN IMPERFECT KNOWLEDGE, BUT ONE DAY YOU WILL KNOW EVERYTHING AS GOD KNOWS ME. DO GOOD TO EVILDOERS. DO NOT TREAT ANYONE BADLY. Many people were around Mirna now, but they saw nothing. Mirna's father bent double to the floor and said loudly, "Virgin Mary, please, don't deprive us of the oil." Mirna heard the answer but her father did not. I GAVE YOU MORE OIL THAN YOU ASKED FOR, AND YET, I SHALL GIVE YOU SOMETHING MUCH STRONGER THAN OIL. Mirna's father asked, "Can you see the Virgin Mary?" "Yes! Yes! She is right here." Mirna reached out and touched ================================ 8 The Miracle of Damascus the Virgin's foot through the long, white dress. She could actually feel the softness of the top of Her foot. It was real flesh. REPENT AND BELIEVE . . . REMEMBER ME WHEN YOU ARE HAPPY. ANNOUNCE MY SON, EMMANUEL. HE WHO ANNOUNCES HIM IS SAVED. HE WHO DOES NOT...HIS FAITH IS IN VAIN. LOVE ONE ANOTHER. I AM NOT ASKING FOR MONEY TO BE GIVEN TO THE CHURCHES, NOR TO BE DISTRIBUTED TO THE POOR. I ASK FOR LOVE. THOSE WHO DISTRIBUTE THEIR MONEY TO THE CHURCHES AND THE POOR, BUT DO NOT HAVE LOVE, ARE NOTHING. 5 I SHALL VISIT HOMES MORE OFTEN, BECAUSE THOSE WHO GO TO CHURCH, SOMETIMES THEY DO NOT GO TO PRAY. I AM NOT ASKING YOU TO BUILD A CHURCH FOR ME BUT A SHRINE. GIVE. DO NOT DEPRIVE ANYONE WHO ASKS FOR HELP. After She finished the message, the Virgin began to move slowly backward. As She did, the road of light disappeared under Her feet. When She reached the railing of the roof, She passed right through it and raised Her right hand with the Rosary still in it. It was not a wave of good-bye. It was as if She was reminding everyone of the Rosary. She went back to the branch without ever turning around. The ball of light closed around Her again, and She disappeared in the light. Three times Mirna saw flashes of light around the large globe, then it disappeared also. _____ 5 The Virgin Mary doesn't mean in this passage to not give to the churches and the poor, since at the bottom of the message She says to give to everyone who asks. It means our motive must be love ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 9 No one else on the roof saw anything. Mirna conveyed all the messages to Father Elias Zahlaoui, who wrote them down. Father had to explain to her what the word "Emmanuel" meant. She had never heard it before. 6 After the apparition, the people began to ask how they should build a shrine. They weren't sure what to do. The Virgin answered their questions. One night during the prayers, all sound disappeared from Mirna's ears. There were many in the house but she heard no sound. Then Mirna heard the Virgin's voice again: MAKE A NICHE OUTSIDE THE HOUSE. TAKE OUT ONE STONE AND PUT ME IN IT. Nicol called an engineer friend of his. They could only find one stone on the entire house that could be removed without damage to the walls. This stone was right next to the main door and at eye level. They took out the stone, placed one of the Icons in the space with a marble dish under it, and put a glass cover over the hole. Inside they made another shrine with the original Icon that poured out oil. It was still coming out. Again Mirna heard the voice in the same manner. This time it was a secret message for Father E. Zahlaoui. All I know about the secret is that something very miraculous happened to Father E. Zahlaoui in his past by the intercession of the Mother of God. She reminded him of it. My Son Can Walk The oil from the picture didn't stop. The oil from her hands didn't stop. The crowds became larger and larger. Sometimes the oil appeared on the glass of the image like bubbles. It would blow up, then break, making a perceptible noise. Mirna's _____ 6."Emmanuel" means "God with us." I have assumed Her meaning in the first part of this message (regarding knowledge) is related to (our knowledge) of the Bible, which is entirely known but not entirely understood. For "As God knows me" see Chapter Three. ================================ 10 The Miracle of Damascus husband didn't understand nor appreciate any of what was happening--until the day following the apparition. On December 19, 1982, a paralyzed boy of nine years was brought to the house from Hons, Syria. The boy's father carried him into the bedroom. His legs were all twisted. He had never been able to walk. Mirna and the father prayed together over the child. Oil came from her hands. She anointed his legs. The child's legs straightened out. He started to move them. The father screamed and ran into the patio kneeling at the water fountain, thanking God with many tears of joy in his eyes. Then he jumped up. "Give me some shoes. Give me some shoes. My son can walk. He will need shoes." The son of Mirna's sister was about the same age as the boy. He quickly took off his shoes and gave them to the father, who put them on his son. The boy not only walked all over the patio, but he jumped and danced. So much joy came to Nicolas in seeing this boy, he never again wanted the miracle to go away. This didn't take away his crosses, which were many, but he began to carry them without complaint. The crosses were many. That same day six other people came on crutches and went away without them. Father Zahlaoui thought about the message, "I shall give you something much stronger than oil." Home of the Icon Mirna is a Catholic of the Melkite Byzantine Rite. Her husband, Nicolas, is Greek Orthodox. And so, on December 30, 1982, His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius IV Hazim interviewed Nicolas and Mirna in his office. After the interview, the Patriarch promised an official declaration for the following day. The next day the official paper was read to all the Greek Orthodox Churches in Damascus. It gave recognition to what was happening. The Patriarch ordered the Icon moved in procession to the Church of the Holy Cross, which is very near to Nicolas' house. On January 7, 1983, two days before the moving of the ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 11 Icon, Safu Abu Fares, a Moslem woman, who was completely blind, recovered her sight. In spite of this, there was no joy in the house of Mary. On the 9th of January the Icon would be moved. At this polnt Nabil Shoukeir who had a video shop a few hundred yards from Mirna's house began to film everything. He now lives in California and is a charter member of THE MESSENGERS OF UNITY. It is because of him that we have everything on film. On January 8, 1983, at 11:37 P.M., Mirna received her third apparition of the Virgin Mary. The Holy Mother of God was crying. Mirna was crying also, and she cried out: "The Blessed Virgin is crying." The Virgin said to Mirna, IT IS ALL RIGHT. She smiled and disappeared. The following day thousands of the faithful marched in the short procession from the house to the church with the Icon. But there was no joy in their singing. The Icon was placed next to a large column in the church, and "collection boxes" were placed around it. The Icon stopped pouring oil. However, at Mirna's home, a second identical Icon began to pour out oil on January 17, 1983. (Nicolas had bought ten Icons with the first one. This one had been placed in a niche outside the front door of their house.) The news went around fast, and the crowds continued to come to the house. There on January 26, 1983, Alice Benilian of Aleppo, who had suffered from a withered arm for 13 years, was cured while she was praying in front of the Icon in the church. On February 21, 1983, two Greek Orthodox priests, Fathers Elias Kfoury and Dimitri Hosni, brought the holy Icon back to the house in a very sacrilegious manner (a black nylon bag). They told Nicolas he should not allow anyone into his house except Greek Orthodox people. Nicolas, angry about the black bag, answered them: "I am a Christian before I am a Greek Orthodox. All are welcome." They went away angry. ================================ 12 The Miracle of Damascus Father Joseph Malouli, a Catholic Lazarist priest of the Roman Rite, arrived. He knew what had happened. He asked Mirna to pray with him before the Icon. They recited ten decades of the Rosary and then prayed silently. Father Malouli prayed: "Virgin Mary, enlighten us so we may do nothing against Your wishes." Forgive with Humility Around 9:20 P.M. Mirna left the room. She said nothing. She went upstairs to the terrace. Her brother-in-law saw her and told Father Malouli. He followed, as did the other members of the household and the visitors. At 10:30 P.M. on February 21, 1983, she had another apparition. The Virgin appeared again in blue and white light just as She had appeared the first time. The Virgin spoke: MY CHILDREN, THIS IS BETWEEN YOU AND ME. I CAME BACK HERE... DO NOT INSULT THE PROUD PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO HUMILITY. THE HUMBLE IS THIRSTY FOR THE REMARKS OF OTHERS TO CORRECT HIS FAULTS, WHEREAS THE CORRUPT AND ARROGANT NEGLECTS, REVOLTS, AND BECOMES HOSTILE. FORGIVENESS IS THE MOST PREFERABLE THING. HE WHO PRETENDS TO BE PURE AND CHARITABLE BEFORE MEN, IS IMPURE BEFORE GOD. I HAVE A REQUEST TO ASK OF YOU. ENGRAVE THESE WORDS IN YOUR MINDS AND ALWAYS REPEAT THEM. "GOD SAVES ME. JESUS ENLIGHTENS ME. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY LIFE. I AM NOT AFRAID." IS THAT NOT SO, MY SON, JOSEPH? ENDURE AND FORGIVE. ENDURE MUCH LESS THAN WHAT THE FATHER ENDURED. ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 13 Mirna passed on the message as she heard it and Father Malouli wrote it down. After the apparition Mirna wanted to know who Joseph was. "My name is Joseph," Father Malouli said. Before the apparitions the family didn't know the good father. Few in the city of Damascus knew his first name. Father had an answer. He still didn't know what to do, but he knew what not to do. The Lord's Prayer says, "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." The Mother of God was telling us to do the same thing. She was also repeating the doctrine of the Trinity. 7 "I came back here." It was still the same day the Icon returned. Was Mary saying that where the Icon stayed, there Mary would be? 8 Is this why she was appearing to this little girl? Was it to tell us to be more forgiving? Father pondered the words over and over. There must be another reason for these happenings. A Divided Kingdom March 24, 1983, Mirna had another apparition. 9 It was 9:30 P.M. on the feast of the Annunciation, the entrance of Christ into Her womb and into the world for the first time. The Virgin appeared again in blue and white with the Rosary in Her right hand. She came and left the same way as in the second apparition, in a ball of light on the tree. Twelve people followed Mirna to the roof. They could see nothing. The Virgin came close to Mirna and spoke: _____ 7. Father Malouli noticed that the words of this apparition were similar to the words in "IMITATION OF CHRIST," Book 11, Chapter 11, and Book 111, Chapter Vll. 8. This is not to say that the Icon is Mary, but only that She will be where the Icon stays just as God was with the Ark of Moses. 9. An apparition is a face-to-face vision of the natural eyes, and the visionary does not lose consciousness of those around her. An ecstasy is a vision of the mind or the eyes of the soul. ================================ 14 The Miracle of Damascus MY CHILDREN, MY MISSION HAS COME TO AN END. IN THIS NIGHT THE ANGEL TOLD ME: "BLESSED ARE YOU AMONG WOMEN." I COULD SAY NOTHING EXCEPT: "I AM THE HANDMAID OF THE LORD." 10 I AM HAPPY. I AM NOT WORTHY TO SAY: "YOUR SINS ARE FOR- GIVEN," BUT MY LORD HAS SAID IT. ESTABLISH CHURCH. I DID NOT SAY "BUILD A CHURCH." THE CHURCH WHICH JESUS ADOPTED IS ONE CHURCH, BECAUSE JESUS IS ONE. THE CHURCH IS GOD'S KINGDOM ON EARTH. HE WHO DIVIDED IT HAS SINNED. HE WHO IS HAPPY IN THESE DIVISIONS HAS ALSO SINNED. JESUS ESTABLISHED IT. IT WAS VERY SMALL. WHEN IT GREW IT BECAME DIVIDED. WHOEVER DIVIDED IT HAS NO LOVE. BE UNITED. I SAY TO YOU: "PRAY, PRAY, PRAY." HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE MY CHILDREN WHEN THEY KNEEL AND IMPLORE. DO NOT BE AFRAID. I AM WITH YOU. DO NOT BE FRAGMENTED LIKE THE ELDERS. YOU SHALL TEACH GENERATIONS UNITY, LOVE AND FAITH. _____ 10 The words "Blessed are you among women" appear in the fourth century versions of the Bible in Luke 1:28 However, in the second century they only appear in Luke 1:42 The Arabic Bibles all have it in 1:28 We can draw one of two conclusions from this. Either Mary is conforming to the time and place of the seer, as most Marian Theologians would conclude; or Mary is stating that the translation of the fourth century was inspired by the Holy Spirit to be correct. I am inclined to believe the second. ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 15 PRAY FOR THE INHABITANTS OF (SAMMA) AND EARTH. 11 The Mother of God clasped Her Rosary at the center of the beads (where it connects, making a circle). The cross hung down. She reached out as if to hand it to Mima. Mirna reached out with two cupped hands to catch it and lifted her hands to a point of touching the Crucifix. Oil poured quickly out of the Crucifix and filled both hands. It overflowed onto the ground. Everyone around her saw the oil overflowing and ran over to catch it. Each of them filled their own hands from the overflow of Mirna's hands. One man filled his hands and poured it all over his face. Then filled his hands again. The Virgin backed away lifting the Rosary up as if to remind us not to forget it. The road of light disappeared under Her as She passed through the railing, across the street, into the ball of light in the tree. The ball closed around Her. Three bolts of lightning came out of the ball. Everything disappeared. A large spot of oil on the floor was all that remained. Later they built a ring of bricks around the spot to keep people from walking on it. And later still they built a shrine with a statue of the Virgin over the spot. Mirna understood almost none of this apparition. Her limited religious knowledge allowed her only to pass it on. A great deal of deep theology is in these simple lines, but we will get into that in another chapter. For now it is important to note that she didn't understand. Mary's mission from God was to teach the world that God wants His Church united again as it was in the beginning.12 On October 24, Mirna had two ecstasies. The first at 2:00 _____ 11. At first I translated "Samma" as "Heaven"; however, I was wrong in the translation. "Samma" means "upper sky" and "Janni" means "Heaven." There is another word for the blue or lower sky. So this has to mean an in between place or Purgatory. The Melkites call it "Mat'har" or "cleansing." The Virgin Mary is stating a doctrine without offending anyone. 12."Establish Church" has the same meaning as "Establish Truth." For the word "adopted" see Romans 8:14-15. ================================ 16 The Miracle of Damascus P.M. and the second at 6:00 P.M. There were no messages; however, on October 26th she began for the first time to feel the presence of nails in her hands. On October 28, 1983, Mary comforts her: DO NOT BE AFRAID. ALL THIS HAPPENED SO THE NAME OF GOD WILL BE GLORIFIED. DO NOT BE AFRAID. THROUGH YOUR EXAMPLE I WILL EDUCATE MY GENERATION. The ecstasy lasted from 6:20 P.M. until 6:50, even though the message was short. Oil extruded from her face, neck, chest and hands. Her body became rigid and cold. She had pain in her head and in the palms of her hands. On November 4, 1983 a kind of callosity (red spots) appeared in the middle of each palm. Not All My Children On the 7th of November she started receiving pain at the "bend of her foot." Oil continued from the Icon and the pain continued. She had the feeling of the presence of nails in the palms of her hands and feet. She prayed all that time. She stayed in bed. Her mother was beside herself with worry and sympathy for her pain. She began to wish this had never happened to her daughter. Mirna went into another ecstasy, and as she narrates: "I found myself in the clouds, and I saw my Mother Virgin Mary. She was smiling at me. I smiled too. It was if She was my sister and my friend. She was standing and I was almost standing. . . I mean sort of squatting. "The Virgin's smile changed and became gloomy. She said: GO DOWN AND TELL THEM THAT YOU ARE MY DAUGHTER BEFORE BEING THEIR DAUGHTER. "I repeated what She said. I saw them all crying around me. Also I saw my body lying down on the bed. How I saw that, I do not know. I told them: 'Nouha [this is her mother's name], I am her daughter before being yours.' Again I went back to the Virgin Mary. She said to me: The Miracle of Damascus 17 MY HEART IS CONSUMED FOR MY UNIQUE SON. IT WILL NOT BE CONSUMED FOR ALL MY CHILDREN. "Then I came back and opened my eyes." During the ecstasy, Mirna approved with a movement of her head what Father Malouli was telling the believers. She kept saying, "Pray, pray, pray!" 13 (See film.) By now oil was coming out of copies of the Icon from all over the world. Hundreds of Icon copies had been given out to visitors at the house of Soufanieh or simply made by people who believed. These (copies) were pouring out oil, and cures were taking place everywhere. This is very much like what happened and continues to happen with the Miraculous Medal. So far we can count 37 comparisons to the apparitions of Saint Catherine Laboure. Wife or Nun? The Miracle of Damascus was a year old. No one who lived the miracle had any doubts. Hundreds of priests and nuns had become involved. Five bishops were watching closely. No condemnations were given. Documents were being sent to the Vatican. Mirna was beginning to suffer not only from her body (which was taking on the five wounds of Christ) but also from the people around her and her own husband. Her friends became angry at her because she continued to be a housewife. She mopped the floors, made beds, fixed the meals, washed the clothes. When her friends saw her, they would get angry. "Your hands should not do these things. They are blessed by God." _____ 13. Mary is affirming in these apparitions that She is the Mother of all mankind. Co-redemption is also implied. Mirna came out of her body and then could look back at herself lying in bed. ================================ 18 The Miracle of Damascus She would answer, "I don't believe the Virgin Mary had a servant." Nicolas was a problem too. He loved her dearly, but he now thought of her as something that no longer belonged to him, something (not somebody) that was holy, a relic, a sacramental, something too holy to touch. Mirna spent many hours crying. No one knew why. The priests worried about it, but (for a long time) didn't ask. Eventually, they found out. Mirna wanted to have a baby, but Nicolas had not even touched her in over a year. Finally, the good priest decided to get involved. "Nicolas, marriage is for children. Why are you not having children? Why are you breaking your marriage contract?" "Father, I married a normal, happy girl, but she no longer belongs to me. God took her away. She should become a nun or something. She has become the property of the world. She is called by God to something. I don't know what. But how can our life ever be the same again? These things do not happen to normal people, only to nuns and priests." "Have you learned nothing from all of this, Nicolas? What is God trying to say to us? It is not 'UNITY'? Isn't He telling us we should be one, one Kingdom on earth, one faith, one belief, one Church? The greatest example of this unity was the holy family. Family life is the first building block of the Kingdom, the Church. The unity of the family is the first example of the unity of the Church. If God didn't want your marriage, He would have started this miracle six months earlier before you were married. He wanted to show the world the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of the unity of one body in Christ. You and Mirna are one, not two. She is no longer alone. She is one body with you. Is that not what you became at the Sacrament of Marriage? It is not what you promised to God in your vows?" Nicolas was not convinced. "Yes! Yes! I have thought out all those things. But you know my past life. I was not the most saintly of men. In this part of the world, we do not have such openness about sex. It is not even thought of as The Miracle of Damascus 19 holy within the marriage itselœ We think of it as only tolerated by God." "No! No! No! My poor friend! Your thinking is all wrong. What do you think you can give to God? Do you think God needs anything? Does God need sacrifices? Does God need our prayers? No! He doesn't. We need them. He gives everything. All He wants in return is SOULS, SOULS, SOULS. We cannot give Him souls without babies. "Sex is [a] most perfect example of unity, since the unity brings life, and life [properly lived] brings eternal life with Christ, and eternal life with Christ is all God wants from us so He can show us His love forever and ever and ever. Without this perfect unity, nothing happens." "What about you priests and nuns? What about Christ, Mary, and Joseph? None of you have sex. You have all given it up for God." "Christ, Mary, Joseph, and we, who have followed their example, have done so to become the servants of the family. We are the aids of the family. We are always and forever outside in order to be the guides, the directors, the debt-payers for all those families who don't live as they should, who don't pray as they should, who don't love as they should. We are ordained by God to be the servants of the family. But the family is the main building block of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. It is the miniature Kingdom, or the atoms of the Church. Without babies there are no souls for us priests to serve.'' 14 Stigmata and Unity It was a great argument, but the good priest needed help. He got the help from the greatest of all sources. On November 25, 1983, Mirna was starting to show signs of the stigmata. Her small home was packed with priests from every _____ 14. There are many saints throughout history who were married. There are many who had apparitions: St. Bridget, Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, St. Monica, St. Helen, etc. ================================ 20 The Miracle of Damascus different kind of church: Syrian Catholics, Roman Catholics, Romanian Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Assyrians, etc. Oil continued pouring from her hands and the Icon. Blood came from her side leaving a blood stain on her shirt. By 5:00 P.M. blood was flowing from her hands and her feet. After six hours the blood stopped and the wounds closed all by themselves. At 8:00 P.M. Mirna had another vision. (See film.) She saw the Virgin Mary. The Virgin was standing at a level slightly higher than Mirna, but in the vision, both were standing. The Holy Mother didn't mention the wounds and pains Mirna had suffered. In referring to past messages and to Nicolas, She simply said: THAT IS ALL I WANT. I DID NOT COME TO SEPARATE. YOUR MARRIED LIFE SHALL STAY AS IT IS. WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME TO ME?...COME IT SUFFICES THAT YOU ARE WILLING TO COME. Their marriage life became normal again, but God didn't bless them with children. After four-and-one-half years they would finally have a child. It would be with the help of God. (See the message of May 1, 1985.) The miracle of oil continued, not only from the original Icon, but from other Icons, in other houses and in other countries. The blind were being cured, the lame were walking, the deaf hearing, the sinners repenting. But most important of all, people and even priests from all the different Orthodox, Catholic, and Moslem Churches were praying together as one body. Greek Orthodox or No One This didn't make some of the Greek Orthodox priests happy, especially to see fellow Orthodox priests praying with Catholics. Some Catholics had the same problem. But since Nicolas was Greek Orthodox and head of the household, ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 21 they felt only Greek Orthodox should lead in the prayers. Father Joseph Malouli, a Catholic priest had been doing it. In spite of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch's approval of the miracle, these priests tried to close down the house by bringing in the local security. On November 29, 1983, a Greek Orthodox deacon lawyer and a Greek Orthodox theologian came with Syrian security police. The police took the picture apart to find out how the oil came out of it. In doing so, they tore the top righthand corner of the picture, which remains severed to this day. (The picture took on the look of the Kingdom of God as it is today. The frame was broken on the outside. The Icon was ripped on the inside.) They could find no reason to close down the house. Several days afterward, the security officer came back to the house. He asked Mirna to pray for him. Ever since he tore the Icon his arms were itching badly. Mirna put oil on his arms and prayed for him. The itching stopped. Never again did they have problems with the police. In fact, on days when the crowds are very large, (thousands of people and hundreds of cars) the police are there directing traffic and keeping order. During the year, oil flowed from everywhere, in front of people from every walk of life and almost every type of religion except Protestant. It even came from the Sacred Heart Picture on the Feast of the Sacred Heart. On November 6, 1984 in front of the Vatican Ambassador, Pro Nuncio Nicolas Rotunno, oil flowed from the hands of Mirna and from the Icon. He met with her secretly in the Little Sisters of Jesus house in Damascus. Copies of the Icon were made and passed out. People wrote their names on the copies and wanted to leave them in the house overnight. The copies poured out oil. Soon their bedroom was so full of Icons, Mirna and Nicolas had to sleep on the couches in the living room. Over 900 Icons gave oil in that house. (See pictures.) As the oil came from a picture, the name on the Icon was ================================ 22 The Miracle of Damascus called and they came to pick it up. One nun came to leave a picture with Mirna. Mirna said, "You don't need to leave it. Oil is already coming." The nun looked down at the Icon still in her hands. Oil was coming out already. On Holy Thursday, April 18, 1984, the stigmata started again. The wound in her side opened up about five inches long. It opened from the inside to the outside as if the flesh exploded. The wounds were larger than the ones in 1983. Six hours later the wounds closed without any care. The pain lasted a few days and then disappeared. Beautiful Shining Mountain On Holy Friday the pain in her side and head was severe. At 3:30 in the afternoon she went into ecstasy. Father Malouli asked her to ask the Virgin what he should do. "Mirna, Mirna, ask the Virgin Mary what does She want from us so we will execute it." Mirna didn't hear anything. During the ecstasy she didn't see the Virgin Mary. She saw a high and beautiful mountain. The entire mountain was bathed in light. It lit the whole mountain. She had a strong wish to climb. Many times during the ecstasy she tried to raise her head and her body. For a long time after the ecstasy she couldn't move her left arm and left leg. When she recovered, Nicolas, Mirna, Father Malouli and all the household went to the Holy Friday burial-service of Christ at Our Lady of Damascus Church. Probably nowhere in the world is there a greater example of the beautiful result a UNITY the Churches could bring about than the Good Friday candle-light procession at Our Lady of Damascus Church. Father Zahlaoui initiated it many years before the Miracle of Unity began. The ceremony was so beautiful and he was so well liked by the faithful that in time everyone from every type of church ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 23 attended his service. More than ten thousand people filled the church and the streets: Roman Catholics, Syrian Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Armenian Catholics, Maronites, Assurian and Moslems, all crowded the streets around his church to pray together for the one Christ. Unity, one Church, one Christ! Maybe it really all started with the work and the prayers of Father E. Zahlaoui many years earlier. Only a few blocks away from his church is the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Fatima, where in 1977 the statue began to cry. Five years afterward came Mirna. The crowds around Our Lady of Damascus church were so big they encircled both cnurches. The mountain? I don't know. Maybe it was the Church, the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Maybe it was Heaven itself. Maybe it was the unity that we should all try to reach. (See film.) The True Peace On May 31, 1984, the Feast of the Ascension, Mirna expressed her wish to see Christ to Father Malouli. "But you must pay the price," said the good father. "What is the meaning 'to pay the price?'" she asked. At 3:00 P.M. she found out. She left her family to lie down on her bed. Oil extruded from her forehead, face, neck, hands and--eyes. Severe burning of the eyes started. Father tried to wipe her eyes with cotton and paper towels. Two persons held her hands to prevent her from tearing at them. The pain was great. She went into ecstasy and began to talk. "I saw Him." She smiled and went back into an ecstasy. Father Malouli stuck her finger with a pin and then her thumb. No reaction. Her father tried to tickle her feet. No reaction. Father Malouli scratched her foot with a screwdriver. No reaction. Sixteen people were in the room. Jesus spoke to her MY DAUGHTER, I AM THE BEGINNING AND THE END. I AM THE ================================ 24 The Miracle of Damascus TRUTH, THE FREEDOM, AND THE PEACE. MY PEACE I GIVE TO YOU. LET NOT YOUR PEACE DEPEND ON PEOPLE'S TONGUES, WHETHER GOOD OR BAD; AND CONSIDER YOURSELF LOWLY. HE WHO DOES NOT SEEK SATISFACTION FROM MANKIND, AND DOES NOT FEAR THEIR WRATH, ENJOYS THE TRUE PEACE, AND THAT WILL ONLY BE THROUGH ME. LIVE YOUR LIFE JOYFULLY AND INDEPENDENTLY. LET NOT THE HARDSHIPS YOU HAVE UNDERTAKEN FOR MY SAKE DESTROY YOU BUT REJOICE. I AM ABLE TO REWARD YOU. YOUR HARDSHIPS WILL NOT LAST; YOUR SUFFERING WILL NOT ENDURE. PRAY WITH ADORATION FOR EVERLASTING LIFE DESERVES THESE SUFFERINGS. PRAY THAT THE WILL OF GOD MAY BE COMPLETED WITHIN YOU AND SAY: "SWEET JESUS, GRANT THAT I REST IN YOU ABOVE ANYTHING ELSE, ABOVE ALL CREATION, ABOVE ALL YOUR ANGELS, ABOVE ALL PRAISE, ABOVE ALL REJOICING AND HAPPINESS, ABOVE ALL GLORY AND HONOR, ABOVE ALL HEAVENLY HOSTS, FOR YOU ALONE ARE THE MOST HIGH. YOU ALONE ARE THE ALMIGHTY AND GOOD ABOVE ALL THINGS. MAY YOU COME TO ME AND RELIEVE ME AND RELEASE MY CHAINS ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 25 AND GRANT ME FREEDOM, BECAUSE WITHOUT YOU MY JOY IS NOT COMPLETE. WITHOUT YOU MY TABLE IS EMPTY." THEN I WILL COME TO SAY: "HERE I AM BECAUSE YOU CALLED ME." Unlike the Virgin Mary, Mirna didn't see Christ clearly. She saw Him on a mountain with thousands of hands praising Him. He was dressed entirely in fire red. A light shone around Him so bright that she couldn't see Him clearly, but could make out that it was Christ. He was about 200 feet away from her when He spoke. She heard Him clearly. It was the first time she saw Him, but she would see Him many more times after that. 15 The explanation of many of these messages can be found in "The Imitation of Christ," especially on humility and the cross we have to carry. (The Miraculous Medal also has 37 correlations: dates, hours, clothes, hands, Immaculate Con- ception. etc.) Secret Message On Friday, September 7, 1984, another ecstasy started at 7:47 P.M. Dr. Samia Barsa tested her reactions during the ecstasy. The Virgin Mary confided a secret to her and told her: THIS IS BETWEEN YOU AND I UNTIL THE MOMENT OF YOUR DEATH. (Secret message.) _____ 15. This prayer was later discovered by the fathers of Damascus in "THE IMITATION OF CHRIST" Book III, Chapter XXI. It is the same prayer except in more detail in the book. Also "Let not the hardships that you have undertaken, etc." can be found in the same book, Chapter XXVII-2. It is as if Christ is pointing to the little book as an instrument of unity. In fact, since Mirna learned of this, she reads from it almost everyday. ================================ 26 The Miracle of Damascus LIVE YOUR LIFE, BUT LIFE SHOULD NOT STOP YOU FROM PRAYING. There was much commotion in the room that night. On November 20, 1984, she heard a voice, "I WILL TAKE YOUR EYES." She told Miss Hana Janane, a Moslem, what was going to happen to her. Six days later, Mirna lost her eyesight. For three days she could not see anything except a white light. Her eyes were open and normal, but she could see nothing. When sacred objects were placed in front of her, she could see them as if made of white light: crucifixes, rosaries, Saint images, etc. In fact, she could see the images right through the people who tried to stand in the way of them. (See film). Her face glowed with happiness. Her body emitted a kind of perfume. She fasted for these three days. She had a great peace and calmness about her. The entire house felt this peace. On the third day of her blindness Father Zahlaoui brought her communion. He told her to open her mouth for the communion. She said that she already received communion that day. Father asked her mother if any other priest had come in that day. No one had. But Mirna said she felt someone's hand and received a host. Father gave her the second communion. During those three days she didn't close her eyes once. She didn't sleep at all. The light was so beautiful, so peaceful, and so heavenly she didn't want it to ever end. Her mother was constantly worried though. She pleaded with Mirna to sleep. Finally, as the third day was coming to an end, Mirna said a prayer, more for her mother's sake than her own, that she would sleep just for one half hour. She felt someone's hand softly go over her eyes as if to close them. She felt this three times. Finally she told her mother to move her hand away from her. Her mother was not even near her. At 9:00 P.M. she vomited a perfumed oil; at 12:00 mld- ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 27 night, she recovered her sight. The first person she saw was her mother. There were over thirty people in the room including Nabil Shoukeir, who took pictures of everything on his video camera. Everyone cried. During the three days, her face was the color of pink, but after, it went back to normal, which is sort of pale. l6 Father Is In Heaven March 3, 1985, Nicol, Mirna, Father Zahlaoui, Father Malouli, and some other people went to see the Catholic Bishop, Paul Bourkhoch, of Hauran. After leaving, Father E. Zahlaoui went to the cemetery to pray with a group of priests and nuns over the grave of Msgr. Naaman. Father Naaman was the founder and builder of the mission. He was also the teacher of Father Zahlaoui, and father had a great love for him. Nicolas, Mirna and Father Malouli left him and headed back home. Mirna fell into an ecstasy in the car on the way home. They had to go back to the Mission. They placed her in the bed of one of the nuns. Many people were there to pray for the deceased Msgr. Naaman, but Mirna and Nicolas didn't know anything about why they were there or about Msgr. Naaman. They prayed the Rosary around Mirna's bed. Mirna had a vision. She saw the Virgin Mary standing with a very short man. After the vision, she told them about the man. They showed her pictures of Msgr. Naaman, but the ones where he had on a hat she didn't recognize. When she saw him without a hat she said that it was the man she saw. It was the deceased Msgr. Naaman. Everyone who knew this _____ 16. Paul received the same three days blindness only a few hundred feet from this spot. Moral theology would say that this was a cleansing of the soul from all earthly loves in order to reach the state of pure heavenly love and the infusion of heavenly wisdom. ================================ 28 The Miracle of Damascus bishop rejoiced, for Mary was telling them that he was in Heaven. Mirna had never met him. On March 24, 1985, a large amount of oil came up from tiles on the floor of the roof. The same spot on the roof where it had poured out of the Virgin Mary's Rosary into Mirna's hands and onto the floor exactly one year before. My Heart Is Divided On May 1, 1985, the feast of St. Joseph, the Worker (Latin calendar), oil flowed from Mirna's hands and face. Again she saw the Virgin Mary. The Virgin spoke to her: MY CHILDREN, BE UNITED. MY HEART IS WOUNDED. DO NOT ALLOW MY HEART TO BE DIVIDED BECAUSE OF YOUR DIVISIONS. MY DAUGHTER, I WILL GRANT YOU A GIFT FOR YOUR FATIGUES. A gift for your fatigues? Mirna didn't understand. What she didn't know was that after four and one half years of marriage, she was pregnant. Eight months after this message she would give birth to a baby girl named Myriam. Later, while traveling in California, they had a boy and named him "John Emmanuel." The Kingdom of Heaven Nicolas and Mirna went to the city of Al Hassake which is about 600 miles from Damascus. It has one of the largest churches in Syria. The people of Al Hassake had been asking Mirna to come for a long time. They went to the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop and asked to have a Unity Mass. They wanted all the different churches to join together and pray for unity. They received his permission, but Mirna wanted ================================ The Mlracle of Damascus 29 to have Wadih Al-Safi, the greatest singer in the Arab world, sing at the Mass. The Archbishop, however, never allowed musical instruments in church. He would not budge on this point. Before they left his office, the bishop asked Mirna to pray with him. They went into another room. As they prayed oil came out of her hands. When the bishop came out of the room he said, "You can have your violin. You can have a piano if you want. What- ever you want." The next day, Sunday, August 4, 1985, St. George Church was filled to overflowing. There were over 10,000 people inside alone. Syrian Catholic priests were there. Syrian Orthodox priests were there. Armenian Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, and Chaldean priests came. Two bishops, Catholic and Ortho- dox, directed the Mass. Wadih Al-Safi led by singing the International Prayer of Soufanich, written by Awad, the brother of Nicolas: "Virgin Mary of Soufanieh She gathers us night after night For peace we pray and for Christian unity Oh Mary, heal the sick. Bring back those who went away Release the prisoners. Bring them home to visit Soufanich Oh Mary, Mother of Light, We light candle and incense Daily we give the gift of rose and pray to you every night She came in Heaven's glory with Her healing oil to us Jesus' whose blood redeemed us, save us from sin." At the end of the Mass, Mirna sang the same song. As she sang, oil came out of her hands and her face. The crowds pushed around her. It was hot. She fell backwards and was caught by two women. They thought the heat got to her ================================ 30 The Miracle of Damascus so they laid her down on two chairs and tried to cool her. What they didn't know was that she was in ecstasy. The Holy Mother spoke to her: THE CHURCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ON EARTH. HE WHO DIVIDES IT SINS. HE WHO IS HAPPY WITH THESE DIVISIONS ALSO SINS. I AM HAPPY. DO NOT BE AFRAID. I AM WITH YOU. THROUGH YOU I WILL EDUCATE MY GENERATION. It was forty minutes before she came back to earth. Forty minutes seems like a long time, but as Mirna tells us, everything has to move slowly in order to prepare her soul for the vision. She saw the Virgin in the same clothes as She wore in the Miraculous Medal and in the first apparition. 17 Unity of Hearts On Wednesday, August 14, 1985, the anticipation was very high. This is one of the feast days that something always happens. Five hundred people packed like sardines into the small house. They were on the staircase to the patio. They were on the stairs to the roof. The roof was packed. The living room was packed. Outside in the street were hundreds more. During the prayers there was an attempt to rotate the people. Mirna stood next to the water fountain and prayed and sang with the people. Somehow she knew something was going to happen. She tried to visualize the Virgin as she normally does in her prayer, but she couldn't. All she could do was ask help of her Mother _____ 17. The word "EDUCATE" is not a true translation from the Arabic. It should be "construct," but this type of "construct" in Arabic means "to raise up a child as in educating children in the truth of God." Most Arabic people take this to mean "teaching the truth through Mirna." Since there is no equivalent word in English, I have used "educate." ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 31 to prepare her and to pray for the forgiveness of her sins and weakness. It was the eve of the Assumption. Slowly the room and the people began to disappear from her eyes and mind. She saw nothing but light. The light seemed to pull from her all thoughts and attractions of this earth. When the cleansing was complete, she saw the Virgin Mother. She was all shining like bright diamonds in blue and white. Mirna went into an ecstasy at 7:12 P.M. They carried her to the bedroom. The Virgin Mary spoke to her about unity: HAPPY FEAST DAY! MY FEAST IS WHEN I SEE ALL OF YOU GATHERED TOGETHER. YOUR PRAYER IS MY FEAST. YOUR FAITH IS MY FEAST. THE UNITY OF YOUR HEARTS IS MY FEAST. After her Mother left, she saw the white light for a time. Then she became aware of people in the room, but she could not see them. She was very unhappy that the people were there. This was true of every ecstasy. Her vision was so beautiful, she wanted to just lay there and enjoy the memory of the vision for a long time. But she knew the crowds would not let her. She opened her eyes and answered all the ques- tions from her bed. 18 The Birth of Mary September 7, 1985, the eve of the birth of Mary, the crowds were again big in the little house of Soufanieh because of the feast day. During the prayer, oil started in her hands and then just burst out on her face. It came out of her eyes. Her eyes were on fire. She tried to dig at her eyes. She was taken _____ 18. One vision is not mentioned in this story because the crowds were so great a woman was pushed on top of Mirna as she woke from the ecstasy. This caused her to forget the message. To this day she doesn't remember. ================================ 32 The Miracle of Damasotis to the bedroom, and they held onto her hands to keep her from clawing at her eyes. Her mother held on to her with the help of others. (As in almost all the ecstasies, everything was filmed.) (See film.). Mirna fell into an ecstasy. The pain in her eyes went away. She saw a beautiful bright white light. A period of time passed as she enjoyed the vision and the feeling of the light. The image of a man appeared in the light. He was completely made of light but much brighter than the light around Him. She heard Him speak to her in a far off voice but very clear: I AM THE CREATOR. I CREATED HER TO CREATE ME. REJOICE FOR HEAVEN IS REJOICING BECAUSE THE DAUGHTER OF THE FATHER, THE MOTHER OF GOD AND THE BRIDE OF THE SPIRIT IS BORN. REJOICE, FOR THE EARTH IS REJOICING BECAUSE YOUR SALVATION HAS BEEN REALIZED. 19 Saved By The Cross On October 10, 1985, Mirna attended Mass in Lebanon. The crowd was so large Mirna hardly had air to breathe. Oil started coming out of her hands. The people became crazed. They wanted to touch her, take hair from her, a piece of her clothing. Her life was in danger. Nicolas and the other men couldn't stop the people. Suddenly oil began coming out of the huge crucifix on the wall. Everyone saw it. They ran to the crucifix taking oil off the legs of Christ. Mirna was able to get away. Nicolas took her out of the church to safety. (See film.) The oil from the Cross had saved her life. _____ 19. This vision answers three controversies in Church history: the uncreated light in the Gregory Patamas vs. Barlaam of Calabria case in 1368; the role of Mary in the Kingdom; and the argument over the Immaculate Conception. We will get into these in Chapter Four. "Your salvation has been realized" means that the plan of salvation began with God's creation of Mary, the Temple of God. ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 33 Crucifed or Honored? On the third anniversary of the phenomenon, November 26, 1985, Mirna fell into another ecstasy. Oil poured from her face, eyes, neck, hands, and feet. There were six Catholic priests, one Greek Orthodox, a Deacon lawyer, a writer- theologian, and the family watching. The doctor separated the flesh from the nail of her finger, which angered Nicolas. After she came out of the ecstasy, her finger hurt for a long time. During the ecstasy she had no reaction at all. The trance lasted for one and one half hours. Christ spoke to her: MY DAUGHTER, WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE CRUCIFIED OR HONORED? Mirna answered honestly, "Honored." Christ smiled and said, WOULD YOU PREFER TO BE HONORED BY THE CREATURES OR BY THE CREATOR? "By the Creator." THIS WILL BE BY CRUCIFIXION BECAUSE THE MORE YOU LOOK AT THE CREATURES, THE FARTHER YOU GET FROM THE CREATOR'S LOVE. MY DAUGHTER, I WANT YOU TO PRAY FERVENTLY AND DESPISE YOURSELF, FOR HE [WHO DESPISES HIMSELF] GAINS STRENGTH AND DIGNITY FROM GOD. I WAS CRUCIFIED FOR YOUR LOVE'S SAKE. I WANT ALL OF YOU TO ACCEPT AND CARRY YOUR CROSS FOR MY SAKE WITH OBEDIENCE, LOVE, AND PATIENCE, AND AWAIT MY ARRIVAL, FOR HE WHO SHARES IN MY PAIN, WILL SHARE IN MY GLORY. THERE IS NO SALVATION FOR THE SOUL EXCEPT THROUGH THE CROSS. ================================ 34 The Miracle of Damascus DO NOT BE AFRAID, MY DAUGHTER. I SHALL GIVE YOU FROM MY WOUNDS ENOUGH TO PAY THE DEBT OF SINNERS, BECAUSE THIS IS THE FOUNTAIN FROM WHICH EVERY SOUL SHALL QUENCH ITS THIRST. IF MY ABSENCE ENDURES, AND THE LIGHT IS CONCEALED FROM YOU, DO NOT BE AFRAID, BECAUSE THIS IS FOR MY GLORIFICATION. GO TO THE LAND IN WHICH CORRUPTION HAS PREVAILED, AND BE IN GOD'S PEACE. 20 When Christ said, "If My absence endures," no one knew what He meant. However, from that day, November 26, 1985, until November 26, 1986, Mirna had no apparitions or ecstasies, no oil came from her hands, and no oil came from the Icon. It was a test by God for her and for the people. In spite of the lack of miracles, the people continued to come everyday. They continued to pray just as if nothing stopped. One year later it started all over again. The Death of Awad During the year of silence from God and from all miracles, Mirna was pregnant with her first child, Myriam. She was born October 15, 1986. Forty-one days later, on the feast of the apparitions, Mirna had her first vision in over a year. Forty-one days are the exact amount of days of purification for women who have babies, and this purification period is still observed in the Eastern Churches. On the night of March 26, 1986 at 11:00 P.M., Father E. Zahlaoui was called. He went right over. Nicolas was upset. _____ 20. The words about the cross in this message can be found in Book 11, Chapter XII of "THE IMITATION OF CHRIST." I have been skipping over many documentations of cures, oil from pictures, from her hands, etc., because this is a daily activity in the Miracle and the messages must be given priority. I have bypassed a child who was born blind and can now see, and a man who was dead and is now in perfect health. See Chapter Two. ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 35 The house was full of people praying. They were standing, astonished at what they saw. The small Icon had moved all by itself. Mirna's father told Father E. Zahlaoui in a stuttering voice that he found the Icon had moved from the lower stand to the higher one. Mirna's father owns a marble factory. At the request of Father Malouli, when the Icon first started pouring out oil, he made a little marble house for the Icon. It has four glass sides. It looks like a little church. The front of it has a door with a large lock. Only Father Malouli has the key. He also made a marble dish to catch the oil. There was so much oil, he made a larger dish and a higher stand for the Icon. After fixing the picture on the new, higher stand, people said they didn't like it that high. So it was moved to the lower one, and the door was locked. On this day, however, it moved to the higher one all by itself. No one knew why. Father saw Mirna sitting on a chair near the Icon. She was pale. Father asked her what happened. "I don't know. My father and Nicolas screamed. I came and found the photo as you see." "Where is Father Malouli?" he asked, since he knew that he had the only key. "He couldn't come today. He is busy moving all the documents from the convent." "Where is Nicolas?" "He is in the sitting room." Father found Nicolas sitting on the couch, very pale. He greeted him, but Nicolas didn't get up. "Father, please forgive me. I feel pain in my knees. Please, Father, what is happening?" No one knew. They prayed all night long. Awad (Nicolas' brother) lived in the same house but on the upper floor. He was dying of an illness since September. Awad was a very holy man. These last months he was praying all the time. He would listen to the people singing and praying the Rosary downstairs everyday. Some of the prayers and songs he had written himself. The main song of the house was one of his. ================================ 36 The Miracle of Dcamascns "Virgin Mary of Soufanieh We gather every night. For peace we pray and for Christian Unity." Subsequently, the Icon of the Virgin bent over to the front of the glass all by itself and stayed like that for two days. On the third day it fell into the oil basin. Awad died. Awad's daughter was only nine years old, and she was at his side when he died. All the family cried, but she com- forted them. "Daddy wouldn't want your tears. He would want your prayers." She led them in praying the Rosary. At Awad's funeral, his daughter walked next to Mirna singing the Virgin's song, surrounded by all the women singing all the way to the church with his coffin. Moslem and Christian men carried the coffin from the house to the church. All the way they sang: "VIRGIN MARY, OPEN YOUR DOORS TO AWAD, YOUR MOST VALUABLE BELOVER." Do Not Sell My Blood During the year of silence from God and all miracles, Mirna had her first child, Myriam (October 15, 1986). Forty-one days later, on the feast of the apparitions, November 26, 1986, oil started again to flow from the Icon for the first time in a year. On that day and before Awad's funeral and with the Icon lie bowed against the glass, Mirna went into another ecstasy. As before, it was preceded by oil from her face, hands, and neck. She saw a strong light with a more brilliant light inside. A human shape was in it. She heard a man's voice, loud and deep: MY DAUGHTER, HOW BEAUTIFUL IS THIS PLACE. IN IT I SHALL ESTABLISH MY KINGDOM AND MY PEACE. ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 37 I SHALL GIVE YOU MY HEART, IN ORDER TO HAVE YOURS. YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN BECAUSE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR ME, AND HE WHO LOOKS FOR ME, I SHALL IMPRINT MY IMAGE IN HIM. WOE TO HIM WHO REPRESENTS MY IMAGE AND SELLS MY BLOOD. PRAY FOR THE SAKE OF SINNERS. IN EACH WORD OF PRAYER I POUR A DROP OF MY BLOOD ON A SINNER. MY DAUGHTER, DO NOT BE TROUBLED BY EARTHLY THINGS BECAUSE THROUGH MY WOUNDS YOU SHALL EARN EVERLASTING LIFE. I WANT TO RENEW MY PASSION. I WANT YOU TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR MISSION BECAUSE YOU CANNOT ENTER HEAVEN UNLESS YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED YOUR MISSION ON EARTH. GO IN PEACE TELL MY CHILDREN TO COME TO ME AT ALL TIMES, AND NOT ONLY WHEN I RENEW THE FEAST OF MY MOTHER FOR I AM WITH THEM AT ALL TIMES. 21 The Stigmata of 1987 Holy Thursday, April 16, 1987, was another year where Easter for the Western Church and the Eastern Church landed on the same day. Everyone expected the same phenomenon of the stigmata to happen to Mirna again as a sign that God wanted unity between the churches. What they didn't expect _____ 21 There is a doctrine in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches that goes back to Augustine. Anyone who is truly seeking the Kingdom of Heaven--the Church--even those who have never heard of Christ are already baptized into Christ "He who seeks me" ================================ 38 The Miracle of Damascus was the change. The first time she received the wounds of Christ, they were very small. The second time they were larger. This time they were much larger. In fact, this time she even received one of the wounds in the head from the crown of thorns. Father Elias Zahlaoui tells us the story in his own words: "I arrived at Soufanieh at 2:25 P.M. in the afternoon. The Nazour family was taking lunch at the courtyard, near the Holy Icon. I prayed for awhile, then I asked where Mirna was. They said she was in the bedroom with Father Malouli. I entered the room. Father Malouli was reciting his Breviary. Mirna seemed to be calm but worried. I told her: 'So, Mirna, are you preparing something for us?' 'Father, don't frighten me,' she responded. 'Remember what I told you. You are the last person in the world to be permitted to say the word 'frighten.' The Lord and the Virgin Mary are with you.' "I sat next to the father. I was reading the gospel of John, trying to follow the passion of Christ. Again Mirna said: 'All my body is shivering.' 'Mirna, don't interfere. Leave it to God.' "She walked back and forth in the room looking at the floor and at the celing saying, 'Virgin Mary . . . Lord Jesus . . .' She put her hands on her face. She sat in the corner of the room, at the left side of the bed, repeating the same words, 'Virgin Mary... Jesus...Lord.' "Then she sat on the floor, shriveled up, clenching her knees and her chin. I watched her. Suddenly she screamed and put her hands on her head. 'Take it away. Take it away.' I ran to her. She bent a bit backwards. I held her shoulder. I saw the blood coming out of her forehead. I saw it in the mirror placed in front of her. At the same time, she opened her arms and let them fall down. I saw also the blood coming out of her palms. With Father Malouli, we put her on her bed. The blood was coming out of her feet also. All this happened in a few seconds. ================================ The Mgracle of Damascus 39 "Father Malouli [who has the habit of timing everything] said it was precisely at 2:46 P.M. To see the stigmata appearing right in front of us reminded me of what the Director of the French Hospital in Damascus had said the first time she had the stigmata on November 25, 1983. We took Mirna to the hospital two days after to request a medical certificate regarding the stigmata and the inexplicable disappearance [without leaving any trace]. Dr. Nasrallah asked us if we were both present when the wounds appeared. I remember very well telling him that, 'God was not in the habit of giving an appointment of this kind.' "In my heart I was saying an immense prayer to God to permit Father Malouli and I to witness this unique thing in the future. "I ran to the telephone and called the physicians: Jamil Marje, George Mesmar, Louis Kawa, George Mounayer, Elie Barsa, his wife, and Dr. Najat Zahlaoui. I also called the Patriarch of the Greek Catholic Church, Father Elias Sargi, Father Elias Baladi, and Father Rizkalla Semaan. I called the Maronites [as Father Malouli requested], Father Khalil Rustom and Father Mouwannes. I then called the Italian Hospital, informing Sister Fiorina and requesting her to inform the Nuncio of the Vati- can. I called the French Hospital, but the line was busy. So I called Sister Lucy, head of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, and asked her to run to the hospital to inform the Superior. I called the physician in charge of the chemical sciences, Hani Rezk, from the Research Scientific Center in Damascus. I called Fadi Touma so that he would inform Mr. Antoine Maksisi and Mr. Adib Mousleh. I called Bassam Mesmar to inform his sister, Mouna. I tried to call Doctor of Biology Jean-Claude Antakly and his wife, who arrived the night before from Paris. I also called Dr. Michel Saba. "I went back and sat right at the head of Mirna's bed. I stayed for the duration of her 'passion' followed by the ecstasy and her coming back to normal. I took care to note everything: words, gestures, etc., while the camera of Nabil Shoukeir, whom I called first, was doing his job. (See film.) Here is every- ================================ 40 The Miracle of Damascus thing I noted, with the precious help of Father Salmo, Syrian Catholic, who was sitting next to Mirna, along with Father Ain. The following are all my notes without any commentary: "In the room is Father Malouli, Doctor Jamil Marji, Father Nasri Salmo, Father Antoine Ain. Mirna is singing, 'That we participate at His Cross.' Then she screams 'Akh.. . ah.. . dakhilkon. . . [dakhilkon means "I am begging you"] dakhilkon. . . dakhilkon... akh... Oh, my mother...my head...ah.' "The physician, Antakly, took her wrist, and she screamed, 'Akh, Oh, Virgin . . . Oh, Jesus . . . for your suffering, Lord . . for your suffering, Lord . . . Oh, Jesus, have pity on me, your sinner servant.' "The physician touched her hand. There was pain. He touched her foot and there was pain, severe pain. 'Oh, Lord. . . Ah, Jesus, I am begging you . . . I cannot stand it anymore . . Lord. . . This is the time of my weakness, Lord. . . I cannot see with my eyes. . . Oh, Jesus, I am begging you . . . I can- not bear as much as you do, Lord.' "I asked her husband, Nicolas, to check the wound on her side. 'It is as big as the last time, but I don't know if its in the same place.' "The position of both feet during all her 'passion' was right foot on the left foot in the form of an 'X'. We put them apart, and she put them back in the same position. 'Oh, Jesus, have pity on the dead. . . Oh, Jesus, have pity on me... Oh, Jesus. .. God is the Creator... God, the Creator, can be proved by Himself. He doesn't need any witness... For your glory, God.' "Almost stammering she said, 'For the forgiveness of the sinners. . . whom I am the first, whom I am the first, whom I am the first. . . I feel they are driving nails in my head. . . Oh, Virgin, I am begging you.' "Mirna's baby was in the room. Doctor Najat Zahlaoui asked her, 'What do we say to Myriam? Do you want Myriam?' 'She has her Mother,' said Mirna. 'I feel pain in all my ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 41 body... I have pain in my eyes... my head... Give me some water.' "Father Nasri Salmo gave her a piece of cotton dipped in water. 'Lord, Lord, why do you abandon me? I don't feel with my hands . . . Oh, Lord, Oh, Jesus. . . support my little faith... Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord... Lord. Oh, my Mother, tell your Son. . . Oh, my Mother. . . alleviate my suffering, Lord [she raised her head up and down]. . . Keep away your crown, Lord... keep it away... keep it away... Lord, I cannot bear what you can bear yourself. Lord, You. . . You are God. .. I am a worm of the earth.' "It was 4:10 P.M. 'Lord, don't permit me to become more pitiful. Oh, Virgin, I beg you, don't let the people be afraid of the spectacle of your Son. Oh, my Mother.' "At 4:17 P.M. Mrs. Antakly took her pulse. It was 100. 'Oh! My Mother, those are your children... Oh, my Mother... You are their Mother.' "I asked her if she saw anything. 'Light, light.. . I am conscious of everything, but I suffer from everything.' 'If you don't feel,' I told her, 'all your suffering has no meaning.' 'But pray for me, father, so He will alleviate my suffering.' 'Tell Him, Mirna, that His Will be done.' 'Oh! Virgin. Oh, Mother.' "At 4:27 P.M. blood flowed again from her forehead. 'Oh, my Mother. . . my head, ah, my head. . . I am begging you. Move it away. . . Your will be done, Lord. . . Oh, Jesus, I am begging you. Have pity on me, your sinner servant.' "At 4:28 P.M. she was screaming weakly. Mrs. Antakly touched her hand. 'Akh, my Mother, I am begging you. All this suffering, and it is equivalent to the suffering of Her smallest toe.' "Mrs. Antakly took her pulse. It was 130. At 4:37 P.M. Mirna made a gesture to remove 'the spines' from her fore- head and her temples. 'Move them away, move them away.' "Again blood started to come out of her forehead. The gesture to remove 'the spines' lasted for two minutes. 'Pray ================================ 42 The Miracle of Damascus for me. . . but remove it away. . . He loves us. . . He loves you. . . Oh, dad. . . He. . . He loves us. . . We. . . we don't love Him. . . We are playing a comedy to each other. . . He discovered us. . . He knows who loves Him. . . We are playing the comedy between each other. . . He is patient towards us... He... He wants to UNIFY us by His Will... He can make it over our head [the literal translation would mean our head will be the price]. . . but He wants it to come from us.' "As Mirna was saying these words about UNITY, I heard Father Malouli in the patio, preaching about the beauty of this house, the beauty of prayer, the unity of hearts, and the Lord's call for the Unity of the Church. "At 4:40 P.M. Mirna again started the gesture to remove 'the spines' from her head and temples. 'Ahh, Lord,' rubbing her left temple. "I asked her if she wanted us to sing. 'Yes.' She said. George Bdeoui sang one of the songs of Holy Thursday: 'Today He is suspended on a wood, the one who suspended the earth on the waters...' "At 4:46 P.M. she had a stifled scream, and she put her hand at her left side. I asked her what she saw. 'I see light, but I suffer a lot.' She dropped her head to the right side and became unconscious. I called her many times by her name, but she didn't react. The physician raised her left arm up and let it fall down. It caused no pain and she did not react. He repeated it many times. "At 4:55 P.M. the surgeon, George Mesmar, asked to exam- ine the wound on her left hand. Biologist Antakly said, with a reproach, 'Science should always interfere.' I responded that there is no inconvenience from our part. "At 4:56 P.M. Dr. George Mesmar cleaned the wound of her left hand. Again blood started to come out of it, but only a small quantity. "At 4:57 P.M. Mr. Antakly took the pulse of Mirna: 124. "I noticed that Mirna's eyelashes were trembling. I told Dr. Antakly. I called her many times, but she heard nothing. "At 4:58 P.M. Dr. Mesmar asked to be authorized to clean ================================ The Miracle of Damascgs 43 the wound of her forehead. Nicolas asked the priests. Permission was granted. Cleaned, the wound appeared to be very deep. It measured one centimeter. Again blood started to come out, but this time abundantly. The crease of her forehead was filled. It flowed to her hair and made a big spot on the white cloth under her head. "At 5:10 P.M. Dr. Mesmar cleaned the wound on her foot. Again blood started to come out, but not as much as before. She came around and crossed her hands on her chest and kept them in that position for awhile. "She said, 'My shoulder.' She put her head in both of her hands. At 5:21 P.M. she opened her eyes slightly "I asked her, 'Did He tell you anything?' 'No, but I am broken.' "George Bdeoui asked me to ask her what she saw in details. "She said, 'All the passion. . . I am very tired. . . The spectacle is impossible for me to forget it. . . I will tell you all about it later.' 'If I ask you to write what you saw?' 'I will write it.' "George Bdeoui insisted I interrogate her. I did. l told her to tell us everything she saw. She expressed with chopped words the following: 'From afar, I saw Him coming down from a stairs. Carrying the cross. . . Dressed in red. . . Had a crown at His forehead. . . They climbed the mountain. The Virgin Mary with three others. There were three women... They hit Him a lot... when they whipped Him... Yes, when He was whipped. . . before that, they gave Him the cross. . . Someone carried the cross with Him. . . A soldier. .. 'Spectacle of a Cross'... 'Words were said in a very loud voice, like if it wasn't Him who said them, FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING. 'Three women were on the ground, like kneeling. I didn't ================================ 44 The Miracle of Damascus hear any noise. It was a silent spectacle.' 'After the crucifixion,' asked Bdeoui, 'did someone come near Jesus?' 'They gave Him a drink. . . They pierced Him with a Javelin... He didn't drink... The last word was a scream: 'FATHER FORGIVE THEM.' 'Maybe He meant us with these words. . . I dont' know. . . When He breathed out, He cried. . . It was a silent spectacle. . . Only one man and three women brought Him down from the Cross. . . The world became black. . . Women, one military, one man and three women... The women wore black.' "I realized that Mirna wanted to stand up. I left the room and invited everyone to leave also, to leave her alone for a moment." Written by Father Elias Zahlaoui: In Damascus on April 18, 1987 As long as we have no unity, her suffering just might continue. Let us make sure we are not the reason (or even a small part of the reason) for her sufferings. Unit or Else Saturday, April 18, 1987 (Holy Saturday): Nicolas called Father E. Zahlaoui late at night. It was 9:45 P.M. Oil was flowing abundantly from the four-inch Icon. Five minutes later he was there. The marble container was already full of oil. The house was full of people. Everyone was praying. Crowds came from everywhere. Just after 10:00 P.M. Mirna was standing with the crowd of people with both her hands on her face. Her hands were dripping with oil and she was very shaky. Father called Antoine Makdisi, Adib Mousleh and Dr. Hani Rezk from the Research National Center. Nicolas had taken Mirna to the bed and asked Father to be with her. He took notes of every gesture and word. His notes: ================================ The Miracle of Damascms 45 "She had both her hands on her forhead and was screaming, 'Akh, Oh, my Mother.' She pressed both fingers into her eyes. 'Oh, my Mother.' Oil flowed from her face. She pressed her eyes. "Father asked everyone to pray in their hearts and not to stare at her. 'Oh, my Mother, my eyes.' She pressed her eyes again. 'Oh. my God.' "Nicolas and her father wanted to hold her hands, but Father E. Zahlaoui stopped them. 'Don't worry. Leave her.' "Pressing her eyes she continued her pain, 'Oh, my God, Oh, my Lord, Oh, my Mother, Oh, Virgin Mary... Oh, Jesus, have pity on me, your servant sinner. Oh, oh, Virgin. . . Akh, my God... God, I can't stand it anymore. I cannot stand it anymore.' "She rubbed her eyes and pressed them hard, moaning and crying. 'Lord, I can't stand it anymore.' She began to cry. 'I can't stand it... That Your Will be done.' "She pressed her hands on her forehead. She covered her face with her hands and moved her head. 'Oh, my Mother.' Then she said the first part of the Lord's Prayer out loud. The people present said the second part, and when they finished, she fell into ecstasy. It was 11:16 P.M. "Mirna placed her left hand over her chest and her right hand over the pillow behind her head. Her fingers were in the form used by a priest who is making a blessing. "Father E. Zahlaoui had to get angry at all the talking of the people present and told them to pray. Mirna's father was already saying the Rosary. Nicolas was upset and was saying over and over again, 'Oh, my God. Oh, my God.' When he heard someone asking people to leave the room to make room for others to come in, Nicolas said, 'Who is able to leave such a spectacle, to leave the room?' "Doctor Jamil Marji examined her and tried to open her fingers, but they went right back into the position of a blessing. Then at 11:32 P.M. she moved her right hand and her head. She tried to raise her right hand up. When she did she ================================ 46 The Miracle of Damascus made a blessing over her head in the form of a cross. She made the sign of the cross with her hand three times. "Her father said, 'Your Will be done.' "She lowered her hand and said, 'Christ has risen.' "Everyone responded according to the Oriental rite, 'Really, He has risen.' This was repeated three times. "Her eyes were always closed, but she opened and closed them now. She made the sign of the cross on herself, wiped her eyes and opened her eyes. 'Did you see anything?' asked Father. 'Yes, Jesus.' 'Did He tell you anything?' 'Yes.' 'What?' 'Nothing but two things.' 'It is okay. What did He tell you?' 'I saw a strong light. After awhile the Christ in a white robe as if He was in the heavens. Maybe it's the Resurrection? He said: I HAVE GIVEN YOU A SIGN OF MY GLORIFICATION. CONTINUE YOUR JOURNEY; I AM WITH YOU. . . OR ELSE. 'That's all?' asked Fathea. 'Yes, it is all.' 'When He said, 'OR ELSE,' did He do anything?' 'He gave the blessing sign." 22 Pray With Faith On the Feast of the Ascension, May 28, 1987, oil began to flow again from the Icon of Mary and the Christ child. By 10:30 P.M. the marble container was half full. The oil _____ 22. The words "you and your" in the Arabic as used in this passage are in the plural and are meant for all people and not for Mima. I have much to say about the words "or else ' but they will wait for later chapters. The words "I AM" means God, and in the old law only God could say those words. ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 47 was coming at the rate of one drop per second. The house was filled with people. All the usual priests were there. They sang songs and prayed the Rosary together. Mirna was in the back of the room. Suddenly oil flowed from her hands. She saw it but didn't want anyone else to see it. She wanted them to continue the prayers. She tried to go to her room, but she fell down. The priests carried her and put her on the bed. The oil was flowing from her face, her hands. She had pain in her eyes. She entered into an ecstasy. She put her right hand on her left hand. Her eyes opened and closed, but she saw no one. Her lips moved without any sound as though she was praying. She made the sign of the cross. When the ecstasy was over, one of the guests asked, "Mirna, did you see anything?" "Yes." "What does He wear?" "A white dress, and He has His hand raised upward." "Did He tell you anything? A command?" "There is something." "Is it something in particular?" "No. It is concerning charity." "What did He say exactly?" LOVE ONE ANOTHER AND PRAY WITH FAITH. After this message, Christ gave a secret message to Mirna to give to three priests, Father E. Zahlaoui, Father Malouli, and Father Paul Fadell. "Did He say anything else?" "A blessing." "For you or for everybody?" "For all." "What did He say after the blessing?" "It was for me. It is something personal. He checked my wounds." "Did you ask Him for anything?" "I didn't have time to." ================================ 48 The Miracle of Damascus "Did you pray for us?" "He is with us, and I will pray for you." Fathers E. Zahlaoui, Fadell and Malouli had asked her to ask Christ if they could talk about the secret message confided to her. She told them (when no one was around) that Christ knew what she was going to ask before she asked and told her, THE MATTER YOU CAME FOR, DO NOT TALK ABOUT IT. 23 Father Paul Fadall is a very holy Greek Catholic priest who teaches in the Seminary. Once, after this apparition, a priest told Father Fadell that he would die if he went to Lebanon. He went anyway. Mirna heard of it and prayed to God for him. She told God that if he died she would be very angry. A bomb hit the seminary he was in, but he wasn't hurt. When he returned, everyone hugged him for they all knew of the prediction of his death. Mirna wasn't angry at God. Christ, Not Me On July 22, 1987, in Harissa, Lebanon, Nicol and Mirna went to Tony Hanna's house. Many people prayed at the foot of the statue of Our Lady of Lebanon in the house. During the prayer, oil flowed from Mirna's hands, face, and eyes. She went into an ecstasy. She saw a bright light, so bright it was as if light came from inside her eyes. She couldn't see anything except the light. She heard a voice. It was a strong voice. It had the sound of a voice from a tunnel or (as she says) as "if you put a seashell over your ear." MY DAUGHTER, DO NOT BE AFRAID. THROUGH YOU I SHALL EDUCATE MY GENERATION. PRAY, PRAY AND PRAY, AND WHEN YOU PRAY, SAY: _____ 23. The words "you came for" in the Arabic are in the singular form, whereas the words "do not talk" are in the plural form. ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 49 "OUR FATHER, THROUGH THE WOUNDS OF YOUR BELOVED SON, DELIVER US." On July 28, 1987, they had a procession from the church to Tony Hanna's house. Tony Hanna had built an outside chapel so the people could pray even when he wasn't home. The procession was to bring a copy of the Icon of Soufanieh to the chapel. Two priests walked on both side of the Icon. A large crowd followed. When they reached the chapel, Mirna fell into an ecstasy. They placed her in a chair outside the chapel. She saw Christ as pure light, but she could only make out his outline and face. He raised His right hand and blessed the crowd. She heard no words. My Daughter Is My Mother On the eve of the feast of Mary's Assumption into Heaven, August 14, 1987, and into the morning, Mirna had a vision of Christ. 24 They were at their home in Damascus, a home that now belongs to the Mother of God. We now call it the House of Soufanieh. As on every feast day of Our Lady, thousands came. They were packed into the little home, on the stairs, on the roof, in all the rooms, in the street and in the park across from the house. Everyone was praying the Rosary, singing songs, and saying the prayers of the apparitions. Mirna's face and hands broke out in oil. Oil came from her eyes and they began to burn like fire. They took her to the bedroom and put her down on the bed. They held her hands. She was in lots of pain from the oil in her eyes. Everything was filmed. She went into an ecstasy and the pain stopped. Father Malouli took everyone out of the room except the priests. (See film.) Mirna saw a beautiful white light and nothing else for a long time. To her everything was now calm and peaceful. All thoughts of earth disappeared as she enjoyed the light. _____ 24. The Assumption is the feast of Mary's Assent into Heaven of Her body and Her soul. It seems to be one of the biggest days of this miracle. ================================ 50 The Miracle of Damascus Then the figure of a man appeared in the light. He was made of a brighter light. It was Christ. MY DAUGHTER, SHE IS MY MOTHER FROM WHOM I WAS BORN. HE WHO HONORS HER HONORS ME. HE WHO DENIES HER DENIES ME, AND HE, WHO ASKS FROM HER, RECEIVES, BECAUSE SHE IS MY MOTHER. Father Malouli waited for her to come back to earth. Her heart was beating but she didn't appear to be breathing. No one was afraid. She woke and could hear Father, but she couldn't see anything excepting the beautiful white light. Father asked her all about the vision and wrote it down. He wrote the message very carefully. Everything remained very clear to Mirna while she was still bathed in the light. Then her eyes opened. She could see Father Malouli again, but her recollection of the vision became less clear. This is why she asked father: "Was it very beautiful?" The Mother of God? Many would disagree with that statement. Many have claimed that Mary could not be the Mother of God, and that Christ was not really God. Others claim that Mary was no different than any of us. Some say that you shouldn't ask those in Heaven to pray for you; you should pray only to God. Some say to honor Mary is the same as idol worshiping. There is much doctrine being presented in these messages. Father Malouli obtained the "Nihil Obstat" from his major superior for all the messages from the beginning until August 14. 1987. God Renounced Me On September 7, 1987, the evening of the birth of the Virgin Mary, a large number of people were at Nicol's and Mirna's house for prayer. ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 51 Mirna asked Father Malouli if she could leave. "I'll go to my room to pray because I feel everyone is looking at me I don't want them to think about me instead of thinking about the prayers." In her bedroom, oil came from her hands, face, and eyes. Her eyes were on fire. She went into an ecstasy. When it was over, she opened her eyes. She cried bitterly. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear Father Malouli. "I don't want anyone in the room. Leave me. I don't want anyone," she cried Her father asked her, "Mirna, what is wrong?" "Nothing. Leave me. . . This is something concerning me." Nicolas asked her if the priests could stay. "I am afraid the others will be angry. I don't want anybody. Please." She was still crying, but no one knevw why. "Can you see?" asked Father Fadell. "No... a shadow." "Do you want me to leave?" "No... Stay." Father Malouli asked her, "Did you see anything?" "Yes... I saw Him alone... He renounced me... He doesn't want me." "Did He tell you that?" "He gave me a chance. . . God is merciful. . . No. . . He is not merciful. . . [she cried again]. . . This is the first time He called me by my name which means He renounced me." "What did He tell you?" "Why did He choose me from the beginning? Why did He choose me?" "What did He tell you--exactly?" "Suicide is preferable, if Heaven is refusing me." The priests decided to leave her alone. They told the faithful that Mirna was crying and asked them to end the prayers and leave the house. Father promised to tell them later about what happened. When everyone was gone, the priests and Nicol went back into the bedroom. They asked Mirna about the vision. Christ was reprimanding her, but He was not rejecting her ================================ 52 The Miracle of Damascus as she thought. She confused the Arabic word "Alsatian" for "Lassti." The first means "Aren't you the young girl," but the second word means "You are not the young girl." This is the real message of Christ to Mirna, whose real name is Mary. Mirna is a nickname. MARY, AREN'T YOU THE YOUNG ONE THAT I HAVE CHOSEN, THE CALM GIRL, WHOSE HEART IS FILLED WITH LOVE AND COMPASSION? IT APPEARS TO ME THAT YOU CANNOT ENDURE ANYTHING FOR MY SAKE. I SHALL GIVE YOU TIME TO CHOOSE BE CERTAIN THAT IF YOU LOSE ME, YOU WILL LOSE THE PRAYERS OF THOSE WHO ARE AROUND YOU. AND KNOW THAT THE BEARING OF THE CROSS IS INEVITABLE. My personal feeling is that she just wanted people to pay more attention to God and less to her, but God was using her and wanted her to accept that. In fact, God is forcing her to travel, since miracles happen one hundred times more often when she travels than when she stays home in Damascus. United Hearts Nineteen days later, on the fifth anniversary of the start of the apparitions, Mirna asked Father Malouli to come and pray with her. He brought Father Paul Fadel and Father Michel Farah. Father Rene Laurentin was there. Dr. Jamil Margi arrived. At 4:30 P.M. oil came from her hands, face, eyes, and wrists. She fell into an ecstasy. Dr. Jamil Margi tested her pulse, her reactions, breathing, etc. He cut her hand. She felt nothing. When she recovered, the cut hurt her immediately. ================================ The Miracle of Damascxs 53 Christ appeared to her as pure light, bathed in light. His body was all light and brighter than the light around Him. His outline was clear, but His features were not. He spoke with her again. At the end of the ecstasy she smiled. It was November 26, 1987: MY DAUGHTER, I VALUE YOUR DECISION TO CHOOSE ME, BUT NOT IN WORDS ONLY. I WANT YOU TO JOIN MY HEART TO YOUR SOFT HEART SO OUR HEARTS WILL BE UNITED. LIKE THIS YOU WILL SAVE MANY SUFFERING SOULS. DO NOT HATE ANYONE, OTHERWISE YOUR HEART WILL BE BLINDED TO MY LOVE. LOVE EVERYONE JUST AS YOU HAVE LOVED ME, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO HATE AND SPREAD RUMORS ABOUT YOU. IT IS THROUGH THEM THAT YOU WILL EARN GLORY. GO ABOUT YOUR LIFE AS A WIFE, MOTHER, SISTER. ALLOW NEITHER DIFFICULTIES NOR SUFFERINGS TO BURDEN YOU. DEFEAT IT. I AM WITH YOU. OTHERWISE YOU SHALL LOSE MY HEART. GO AND PREACH TO ALL NATIONS, AND TELL THEM WITHOUT FEAR THAT THEY HAVE TO WORK FOR UNITY. IT IS NOT SO MUCH THE FRUITS OF THE HANDS THAT ARE CONSIDERED SHAMEFUL IN A MAN BUT THOSE OF HIS HEART. MY PEACE IN YOUR HEART SHALL BE A BLESSING TO YOU AND TO THOSE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED WITH YOU. Unity and My Mother Nicolas and Mirna were invited to California, by a Syrian doctor. Mirna was pregnant for the second time, but Christ had said, "GO AND PREACH TO ALL NATIONS." He had also ================================ 54 The Miracle of Damascus said, "GO TO THE LAND IN WHICH CORRUPTION HAS PREVAILED." Nicolas left it up to God as to what nation God meant, but he knew they had to go wherever they were called. In California, oil came out of her hands almost everywhere they went. Many copies of the Icon poured out oil. Many people were cured. Only once during a Mass did oil not come from her hands. Fred Anderson, news commentator for Channel 7, interviewed her. He not only saw the oil come from her hands and the picture but witnessed the ecstasy of August 14, 1988. Anderson brought a specialist in magic with him to see if he could find any tricks. He did not. (See Film.) John Emmanuel Nazour was born to Nicolas and Mirna on July 26, 1988, the feast of Ann and Joachim, the grandmother and grandfather of Christ. He became an American citizen. On August 14th Mass was said in the patio of the doctor's house. All was on film. After Mirna received communion, oil started coming out of her hands. She asked to be taken away so the Mass could continue. They took her to a bedroom. The cameras followed. Oil came from her face and eyes. Her eyes were on fire. Christ spoke to her again: MY CHILDREN, MY PEACE I GAVE TO YOU, BUT YOU, WHAT HAVE YOU GIVEN ME? YOU ARE MY CHURCH, AND YOUR HEART BELONGS TO ME, UNLESS THAT HEART HAS CHOSEN TO FOLLOW ANOTHER GOD. I HAVE SAID: "THE CHURCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ON EARTH. HE WHO DIVIDES IT HAS SINNED. HE WHO IS HAPPY IN ITS DIVISIONS HAS ALSO SINNED." ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 55 IT IS EASIER FOR ME THAT AN INFIDEL BELIEVES IN MY NAME, THAN THOSE WHO CLAIM TO HAVE FAITH AND LOVE, AND SWEAR [take an oath] IN MY NAME. YOU OUGHT TO BOAST IN GOD ALONE. PRAY FOR THOSE SINNERS WHO FORGIVE SINS IN MY NAME, AND YET, RENOUNCE MY MOTHER. MY CHILDREN, I GIVE YOU ALL MY TIME. GIVE ME A PART OF YOURS. 25 Work For Unity On September 6, 1988, Mirna and Nicol arrlved in Damascus from the United States. The following day (September 7, 1988), they prayed before the Icon with a large group of followers. Mirna fell into an ecstasy and had to be carried to bed. She saw Christ bathed in light. He was pure light also. He stood still as she left her body and moved closer to Him. He spoke: MY DAUGHTER, I TOLD YOU TO OVERCOME ALL YOUR DIFFICULTIES, AND KNOW THAT UP TILL NOW YOU HAVE ONLY MET WITH A FEW. ____ 25. This passage about "another God" reminds me of the story of St. Jerome. He was a lover of Greek writings, especially of Cicero. He was a Christian, but he preferred the writing style of the Greeks. God sent him a vision of his Judgment, where he was asked who he was. The saint replied: "I am a Christian, and I profess no other faith than yours. O my Lord." "You are Iying," replied the Divine Judge. "You are a Ciceronian, for where your treasure is, there is your heart also." Regarding "Boast in God alone," some use God for their own gain, money, honor, prestige. Many are caught up in what God is doing for them, but very few are asking, "What can I do for God, for Unity?" Of course, "another god" could also mean a false or demonic apparition. ================================ 56 The Miracle of Damascus TELL MY CHILDREN, IT IS FROM THEM I ASK UNITY. I DON'T WANT IT FROM THOSE WHO ARE ONLY ACTING; PRETENDING THEY ARE WORKING FOR UNITY. GO FORTH AND ANNOUNCE THIS MESSAGE. WHEREVER YOU ARE I WILL BE WITH YOU. When Christ finished talking, Mirna moved away from Him and back into her body. She woke up but could see nothing but light. She repeated the messages while still in the light and then opened her eyes. Mirna and the Mass Mirna and Nicol went to Lebanon at the invitation of their friend, Tony Hanna. Together they went to the Maronite Bishop and asked him to organize a Mass for all the different churches to pray together for unity. He did as they requested and called all the different churches. At the last minute he could not come himself. However, more than 500 people showed up, and it couldn't be held inside the church. They organized it in the schoolyard. Majed Grayeb, who had been saved from a car accident by the Virgin Mary, passed out pictures and messages of the Virgin. The people built a large flower arch. On both sides of the path to the schoolyard they placed signs with the messages printed on them. On the ground and on the houses were candles. When Mirna saw all this she cried with tears of joy. At the Mass were Christians from every kind of church, Catholic, Orthodox, Maronite, etc. It was October 10, 1988, in St. George Church in Maad, Lebanon. As soon as Mirna received communion, oil poured out of her hands. Everyone turned away from the Mass and began to gather around her. She was very upset because they were disrupting the Mass. "The oil is from Him up there on the altar, Not from me." ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 57 She began to cry and ran away. The church was over 100 yards away from the field. She ran to the church crying. She ran inside and laid her head down under the crucifix of Christ. She went into an ecstasy. The large crowd of people came into the church following her. A TV cameraman came taking pictures. They all stared at Mirna in awe. There she was kneeling in a chair with her head and hands laying on the table directly beneath the crucifix. Oil was pouring down the legs and feet of Christ and onto her right cheek. Her face was only five inches below the feet of Christ. (See video.) As the people and the camera watched the oil go from Christ's feet to Mirna's face, she was having a vision of Christ. She saw Him as pure light, bathed in light. He gave her the following message: MY DAUGHTER, WHY ARE YOU AFRAID? I AM WITH YOU. YOU SHOULD SPEAK AT THE TOP OF YOUR VOICE THE WORD OF TRUTH ABOUT YOUR CREATOR SO MY POWER WILL BE SEEN IN YOU. I WILL GIVE YOU FROM MY WOUNDS TO MAKE YOU FORGET THE SUFFERINGS PEOPLE CAUSE YOU. DON'T CHOOSE YOUR OWN PATH, BECAUSE I HAVE ALREADY CHOSEN IT FOR YOU. Majed Grayeb has built a chapel to Our Lady of Soufanieh and awaits Mirna's return. Mirna's love for the Body and Blood of Christ is an inspiration to everyone who knows her well. She will not bless a priest with oil. She always asks his blessing instead, for she knows that in his hands is the power to bring Christ into the world. She will not go up the steps to the altar, for she does not believe that women should be on the altar. Even when the priests place chairs for her on the altar, she will not go. She prefers to be with the rest of the people. ================================ 58 The Miracle of Damascus She has expressed to me that she doesn't like to see women doing the reading at Mass, and especially, she doesn't like to see women passing out Holy Communion. Once during our trip to Detroit, she was not able to receive Communion and we stayed up until 2 A.M. In spite of this, she woke Chor-Bishop Joseph C. Feghali up at 6 A.M. and asked if he would say a Mass. The Bishop and Mirna had a private Mass together. Sometimes she has had to sneak away from people in order to attend Christ's greatest miracle. In Damascus Father Malouli will bring Communion to her at the house when she cannot attend during the week. Those who think they are doing the Will of God and do not attend Mass, should reflect on Mirna's love for Christ's Body and Blood, for this is what makes a Church into God's Kingdom. Why Didn't I Feel You? On November 26, 1988, at 6:30 P.M. at Soufanieh, the sixth anniversary of the Miracle of Damascus, hundreds of people came to the evening prayer session. Most of the people could not get into the house, so they prayed outside in the street. Mirna had another vision of Christ. It would be the last one as of the writing of this book. Three drops of oil hung from the Icon. Nine months later (even though a hot light shines inside the housing of the Icon) these three drops just hung there without dropping. Two months after the following ecstasy, I arrived in Damascus and began my investigation of this miracle. Christ spoke to Mirna: MY CHILDREN, IS EVERYTHING YOU DO FOR LOVE OF ME? DO NOT SAY: "WHAT SHALL I DO?" BECAUSE THAT IS MY WORK. ADOPT FASTING AND PRAYER, ================================ The Miracle of Damassws 59 BECAUSE BY PRAYER YOU FACE MY TRUTH AND BEAR ALL THE BLOWS. PRAY FOR THOSE WHO FORGOT THE PROMISE THEY MADE TO ME, BECAUSE, THEY WILL SAY: "WHY DIDN'T I FEEL YOUR PRESENCE, LORD, WHEN YOU WERE WITH ME?" ALL I WANT IS TO GATHER TOGETHER ALL OF YOU IN ME AS I AM IN EACH ONE OF YOU. AS FOR YOU, MY DAUGHTER, I SHALL LEAVE YOU. DO NOT BE AFRAID IF YOU DO NOT HEAR MY VOICE FOR A LONG TIME. BE STRONG AND MAY YOUR TONGUE BE A SWORD WHICH SPEAKS IN MY NAME. BE SURE I AM WITH YOU AND WITH ALL OF YOU. The miracles don't stop. As I write this book, miracles continue everyday. Yesterday, July 7, 1989, four miracles took place, and I personally saw three of them. So the light goes on. Each day it shines brighter and brighter. Each day more and more of the children of the Kingdom are seeing the need for unity. Each day more and more are hearing the prayer of Christ: THAT ALL MAY BE ONE, EVEN AS YOU, FATHER, IN ME AND I IN YOU; THAT THEY ALSO MAY BE ONE IN US, THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE SENT ME. AND THE GLORY YOU HAVE GIVEN ME, I HAVE GIVEN TO THEM, THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, ================================ 60 The Miracle of Damascus EVEN AS WE ARE ONE: I IN THEM AND YOU IN ME; THAT THEY MAY BE PERFECTED IN UNITY, AND THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOW THAT YOU HAVE SENT ME, AND THAT YOU HAVE LOVED THEM EVEN AS YOU LOVE ME. (John 17:21-23) I believe it started in 1916 when the angel of God gave to the two little children of Fatima the Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Why? Because He gave it to them according to the Orthodox Rite (from the Chalice) and not according to the Catholic Rite. It continued when John XXIII called a Ecumenical Council to "promote the restoration of unity among all Christians." It received a loving heart when the Orthodox Bishops joined with the Catholic Bishops on March 25, 1984 to consecrate Russia and the World to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is gaining the grace it needs from Lucia of Fatima, who has said that she will give the rest of her life to prayer and sacrifice for the unity of the Church. Father Messias Coelho (Lucia's messenger) said that God created the World to create the Church in order to have a family to love. Each day we draw closer and closer to this marvelous day when all Christians will be in the same family of Christ and Mary. Each day more and more are realizing that to be Christian is to work for unity. Each day more and more Christians from different religions are praying together as one. Each day more and more Orthodox and Catholic priests and bishops are praying together as brothers. Let us keep the light burning. Let us keep marching towards unity. Let us say to Christ, ================================ The Miracle of Damascus 61 "Here we are, Lord. We came to do your will. Let us sing and march: Block by block we will build it up. Stone by stone we will mend the walls. Soul by soul we will make it whole. Light by light we will light the world. When all Christians have this UNITY, we will light a candle for Our Lady so big we will light the world. When the non-Christians, the Moslems, the Jews see this light, they will know and be converted. Then we will have a true KINGDOM ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN, and the Lord's Prayer will be answered. --the publican ================================ CHAPTER 2 Testing the Spirits The Unknown Miracle By the divine providence of God, I found myself on my way to the oldest continuously occupied city in the world, Damascus, Syria. It was not my desire to go there. My company had me scheduled at first for Ireland, and I was looking forward to it. At the last minute it was changed to Oman and then at the last second to Damascus. I had little time to prepare my mind for all this. The only thing I knew about Damascus was in Acts. In the plane I thought about Paul. He was the greatest salesman in the world. In all truth Christianity spread throughout the world from Damascus. Paul went to Damascus to persecute those who followed Christ's WAY. He found himself blinded by the light of truth, and led by the hand through the old gates of the city. Ananias found him in the house of Judas near the street called "Straight." He took away his blindness, taught him The Way, and baptized him into Christ's Kingdom. It was the three years he spent in Damascus that prepared him to bring the light to the world. I looked forward to finding the House of Ananias. I wanted to sit where Paul sat, pray where he prayed, learn from the Holy Spirit where he learned. The Daughters of Saint Paul, a religious order of nuns devoted to spreading the Gospel through books and films, were very special to me. I resolved to pray to St. Paul for them, at the House of Ananias. The city of Damascus totally surprised me. The old part of the city is probably just as it was two thousand years ago. The seven gates are still there. Much of the original walls 62 ================================ Testing the Spirits 63 are still standing. The street called Straight is probably much like it was then. Cars are mostly kept out of the old section. The streets are too narrow anyway. You can walk from one wall to the next in thirty minutes. The new section of Damascus is different. It is like most other large cities of the world, tall buildings, some good hotels, too many cars and trucks, too much noise, too many people in too small a space. There are things that will shock you at first. On almost every corner you will find a policeman with a machine gun in his hands. In time you find this has some advantages. There is almost no crime in Damascus. It is probably one of the safest cities in the world to walk around in. There are some other things difficult to get used to. Every block has a Mosque and every Mosque has loudspeakers that blare out the chanting of Mohammed five times daily. At 5:00 A.M. in the morning that is challenging. Cars have no brakes (only horns), and no one stops for stop signs or pedestrians. It is an all day job to find enough food to put a meal together. But the restaurants are good, and you can take a taxi anywhere in the city for under 50 cents. The people are very friendly, clean, and polite. I found the Moslem people extremely good, holy, and honest. The women are very moral and the men are very respectful. There are no juvenile problems. No sooner had I arrived than I was walking the street called Straight. I found the East Gate called Bab Sharki. A few feet away to the north is a very narrow road (about eight feet wide). Two minutes down this street is the House of Ananias. The house is underground with vaulted ceilings of stone. Over the top the Franciscans have built a monastery. Inside is very small and only two rooms. One room has been set up like a small church with pews and an altar. I sat in there for hours praying and feeling the peace of Christ, the presence of Paul, and the history of it all. I prayed hard for the Daughters of Saint Paul. I had to leave Syria almost as soon as I arrived. I worked for the American Embassy, and when they said leave, I left. ================================ 64 The Miracle of Damascus I guess it was for security reasons. I never asked. I decided to go to Rome. I had been trying to get Church approval from my bishop for two books and nine booklets for over two years without so much as an answer from him. I was also trying to publish a book written by my friend called, "FROM GOD OR FROM SATAN." It was the best book I had ever read on the subject of discernment, and this was my avocation and the main subject of all my writings. My friend was in Rome studying to be a priest and working for his Ecumenical License in "Cults and New Religious Movements" at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome. By the grace of Divine Providence I arrived at the seminary at exactly the hour and day when their order was being split in two. One of the members of their order is a charismatic mystic, and supposedly has the stigmata. Five years earlier I had the opportunity to test him face to face for four days. From all that I knew of discernment, this man WAS NOT OF GOD. I wrote against him. No one believed me. Now it was too late for many souls. He had become all truth, all god to them. No matter what he did, no matter how unholy, no matter how stupid, he had become to them the last word. He was 'God.' Bishops, priests and brothers were losing their faith in everything except what this man said. Worldwide, he has a following of eight million. In time they will divide the Church one more time. I gave my assistance to the community. I testified all that I knew. I encouraged all who would listen. Fate had also brought me to the office of one of the top Cardinals of the Church. To him I presented my problems of publishing the vast information I had on false apparitions. He gave me the solution and the sword I needed. I stayed two weeks at the community of priests and headed back to Damascus. The first thing I did in Damascus was to look for a way to attend daily Mass; not so easy in that part of the world. ================================ Testing the Spirits 65 Daily Mass is not so common as in the West. I found an Italian hospital with a group of Italian nuns who had Mass every morning at 6:15 A.M. The priest was from Ireland and had been kicked out of Iran because of the war. He was a beautiful and holy man, and I love him dearly. In order to attend the daily mass, I had to become his altarboy. I soon found out he was an avid follower of EVERY so-called "message from Heaven" in the world. I thought I was an expert on these things. I know the details of at least 200 of them since Fatima, 90% of which I have determined to be false or Satanic. This good priest, however, knew of at least twenty more that I had never heard of. He believed in every single one of them. When I tried to point out that some of these apparitions contradicted others and, in fact, say exactly the opposite things, he couldn't comprehend. I should say he refused to see. These things are done in such a beautiful way as to blind you to rational thinking. It's sort of seduction not unlike a beautiful woman. If you knew what the inside of her looked like, you could never be fooled by the outward appearance. The same is true of these apparitions. Satan wants to lead astray even the elect like the good priest. He couldn't do that unless he dressed his lies in a veil of truth. The Irish Father had become blind to truth, blinded by an unrealistic desire to know the mind of God from God, Himself. He now had a very special knowledge of God, for he was learning directly from Heaven and not through the teachings of the Church, a very dangerous thing, so dangerous that Paul had to warn us against just such a thing. "If an angel from Heaven teaches a doctrine different from ours do not believe it." Christ, Himself, stated that the Church and only the Church would be His teaching authority. "He who hears you, hears Me." True miracles of God do not create doctrine. They are sent ================================ 66 The Miracle of Damascus by God only to support and edify the Church, in some cases to support the teaching of the Church. However, this priest was now learning his faith from seers and mystics from all over the world without the guiding hand of the Church. I had to put up with five days of "messages" from all over the world before he just "happened to bring up the fact" that there was even a miracle in Damascus where a lady was seeing the Virgin Mary and Christ. Of course, you can guess what my reaction was. The Gate of Thomas On Friday I stayed after Mass and had breakfast with him. Without warning he said, "I have to go and see the Sisters of Mother of Teresa of Calcutta. After, we will go and see the miracle. It is only five minutes from there." I dearly loved the Sisters and wanted to see them. I also wanted to see what this so-called miracle was all about, so I agreed to go. Anyway, it wasn't easy to say, "no" to him. I didn't expect much from this miracle. I had never heard of it, and he spoke of it in a rather matter-of-fact way. In Damascus it is called, "Our Lady of Soufanieh." Soufanieh is a Christian district of Damascus, and its meaning is "the place of the man who prays all the time." We saw the Sisters and, as expected, I was in love with them. They were always smiling and happy. They lived in total poverty. They never stopped working, praying, loving, and with a complete joy. "This is what the Church is all about," I told father, "or at least what it should be." We then walked down a narrow street called "Bab Touma." I would later learn that the entire area was called Bab Touma, which means "Thomas' gate." Five minutes from the Sisters' home we passed through the "Thomas gate" in the old wall of Damascus. It stands between Bab As-Salaam (gate of peace) and Bab Sharki (east gate). "Between the East and Peace was Thomas," I thought. Peace between the East and West was only a dream. I said a prayer ================================ Testing the Spirits 67 to St. Thomas and went on. It is only a four-minute walk from there to the House of Ananias and only a ten-minute walk to Bab Kisan, where Paul was lowered over the wall in a basket. Passing the gate, we crossed a bridge over the Barada River. We then walked down the left side of the river a few hundred yards. On one side of the river was a large park. There was a circus in the park. People were busy taking it down and preparing to move on to another location. The park had some trees and grass in it, but on the other side of the river was a continuous row of three to five story old buildings. In front of the buildings was a paved road and the stone wall to the river. The road was about twenty feet above the water. One of the houses was older and smaller than the rest. It was only one-and-a-half stories in the front with an upper deck that was covered with a tin roof. The back part was two stories. It was an old stone building with long, narrow windows. The first floor was partially underground. On the left side was a tall, thin door. By American standards, it was the slums. By Syrian standards, it was middle class. The House of Soufanieh It was 9:00 A.M. We went through the door without knocking. Through the door was a thin stairway up five feet to the second floor. We had to be careful because there was a young girl mopping the stairs, and they were wet. We went past her and into the patio room. I could tell that at one time it was a central patio, but it was now covered with a corrugated fiberglass roof. In the center of the room was a water fountain. My priest guide walked me right into the room without knocking or talking to anyone and took me to the far wall. On the wall were many religious pictures, flowers, and candles. In the center there was a marble box that looked like a little church. It had a pointed top, four marble columns, and glass on three sides. There was a large padlock on the right side. Inside the box (or tabernacle) there was a marble dish half ================================ 68 The Miracle of Damascus full of some kind of oil. Over the dish was a small, inexpensive picture of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child (postcard quality). It was an old Eastern style of painting, similar to "Our Lady of Perpetual Help." The picture was in a broken plastic frame. It was no more than three inches tall and two inches wide. Its value was probably less than one dollar. Considering the frame was cracked on the lower left side and the picture was torn on the upper right side, it was most likely worthless. "This is the Miracle of Damascus," Father said. "This picture pours out oil." I looked into the glass. There were oil drops clinging to the bottom of the picture frame, but they were not falling, just clinging there. I waited for him to tell me the rest of this story. Instead he said, "Let's pray the Rosary." He pulled out his beads and started praying. I was not mentally prepared to pray the Rosary, but other people came in and were saying some prayers before the little Icon, so I went along with him. As we prayed, the same mop-woman moved into the room and mopped the floor on her hands and knees. I was very uncomfortable saying (not praying) the Rosary. Fortunately, I was saved. A man with a mustache came over and spoke good English. "Father, my name is Nicolas. Have you been here before?" "Yes, I've been here, but my friend is from America, and he has never heard of Our Lady of Soufanieh. This is Rick." I shook his hand and was glad to have the Rosary stopped. I hadn't come to pray but to see. Besides I was not sure what "Mary" I was praying to. "You never heard about Soufanieh?" "No! Father just told me about it yesterday." "It started right after my wife and I were married. Oil started pouring out of her hands. . ." "Oh, so you are the husband?" Even the priest didn't know we were talking to Mirna's husband. ================================ Testing the Spirits 69 Mirna "Yes, I am her husband. Anyway. . ." and he went on with the story. He talked to us for over thirty minutes giving a good outline of the entire phenomenon. As he talked, the girl kept mopping the floor with a rag and bucket. Father indicated that he had to leave, but I was becoming more and more interested. I asked if I might come back that evening. Nicolas said he would be happy to tell me all I wanted to know. As we started to leave, I said, "Where is your wife, Mirna, now?" "That's Mirna." He pointed to the woman mopping the floor and called her over in Arabic. She stood up and wiped the water offher hands with her apron. She came and shook my hand without saying a word and then went back to her work. I have to admit I thought she was a servant. Her clothes were very plain. She wore no makeup, and servants were very common and very cheap in Syria. I was shocked. I had personally seen seven so-called seers and mystics. This one was very different. As we left, more people came in to pray. No one knocked on the door. This was their home? This was where they ate and drank and slept? But the door was always open! That night I went back to their home by myself. It was about 4:00 P.M. There was a group of people praying before the Icon. Before I left, there were more than sixty people crowded in the little patio praying the Rosary and singing songs to Our Lady. Nicolas spotted me and invited me into his living room, which was in the front of the house and two steps higher than the central patio. In the living room was a small iron stove with a pipe that ran up about ten feet and then off to the right and through the wall. There were another ten people in the living room which had five old couches in it. There were two coffee tables. Four of the people on the couches were priests. I could tell by their dress one was Greek Orthodox and the rest were Roman Catholic. They were talking in Arabic. ================================ 70 The Miracle of Damascus Nicolas sat me down and we talked. Mirna came and went into the patio without talking to anyone. She passed out prayer cards, took care of her children, changed the diapers of her youngest boy, served tea to the priests, sang songs with the crowd of people, but never led in the prayers or in the songs. In fact, no one seemed to pay any attention to her. She didn't give anyone any special attention. If I hadn't known who she was, I would never have guessed it was she. Nicol (we were getting more personal) continued to tell me the story. I told him for the first time that I was a writer. I started to ask some very difficult questions. I had decided I was going to write this story whether this was from God, from Satan, or simply fraud. There was a lot more to this apparition than any I had written about so far, and the others were known all over the world. This one was almost unknown in the Western world. The story became more and more interesting. My questions became more difficult. Nicol had never had anyone ask these kind of questions. He confessed that he and Mirna almost knew nothing of theology. He was Greek Orthodox. She was Catholic. He had some religious education. She had almost none. The priests in the room couldn't speak English Nicol phoned Father Elias Zahlaoui. He had witnessed the miracle from almost the very first day. He was also very well educated in theology. Nicol asked him to meet with me. Father E. Zahlaoui spoke some English but not very well, so Nicol recommended that he bring along a translator. Really, I didn't understand why I was getting all this special attention. Many other people came and went in this house without even meeting the family. I had already met the aunts, sisters, brothers, grandmothers, everyone. Although, at this point I hadn't heard Mirna say one word. She seemed like a Martha to me (re: Martha and Mary story in the Bible). Seven Years of Documents I went to Father E. Zahlaoui's church, Our Lady of Damascus. Waiting for me in the street was my interpreter. ================================ Testing the Spirits 71 "Are you Rick?" he asked. "I'm Jack. Father E. Zahlaoui asked me to meet you out here and show you in." Jack turned out to be invaluable to me. First of all, he was better in the English language than I was. Jack Sarkis Toumajyan had a BA, MSC, and Ph.D. He was Professor of the Department of English at the University of Damascus. He had a strong Catholic faith but was not caught up in miracles. He was a good friend of Father E. Zahlaoui, but he had been too busy to check into this miracle himself. He was preparing for marriage, building a new house, teaching, and he lived outside of town without a car. The fact that he had no opinion about the miracle was beneficial. Father E. Zahlaoui was a rather large man with a very gentle, loving way about him. He was soft spoken. He never rushed an answer. He was well educated but didn't show off his knowledge. I couldn't help but like him. However, I couldn't afford to let that sway me. I jumped in with both feet. "Father, I am a writer. I primarily write about the dangers of false apparitions and cults. I have been doing this for over twenty years. I am going to write this story. If it is of God, of Satan, or simply fraud, I am still going to write the story. To give you an example of the apparitions I don't believe in and have written against, first of all, I have written against " (and I rattled off ten well known apparitions and mystics). "I will help you in any way I can," Father began. "What would you like to know first?" "Right now I'm not interested in the miracles. That will come later. The first tests of all miracles are OBEDIENCE, FIDELITY, AND HUMILITY. Let's start with Obedience. Has Mirna ever been disobedient to her bishop, her confessor, her husband, her mother and father, or even to the government?" "No! She is a very passive girl. She is easily guided and loesn't seem to ever want to make decisions. She isn't at all a leader. She is a follower. The only one who could be accused of disobedience is me. "After the first few months of the miracle, my bishop told ================================ 72 The Miracle of Damascxs me to stay away from the house. I had been going every day I was her spiritual director. I stopped going for ten months. After all that time I figured the bishop had forgotten his order, so I tested him by going to a very big happening. It was televised. He saw me there and said nothing. So I have assumed he has rescinded his order. Probably wrong on my part. I don't know...? "But all of this was probably good. Father Malouli took over for me. He is very meticulous in detail. He has gone every day for seven years and has taken notes of everything, even the exact time of the day. Every miracle that took place he has documented. He has requested testimonials and doctors' reports. All of this he has filed and preserved in stacks and stacks of documents. I could never have done that. I have a parish to run. Father Malouli is older. He is sort of retired and is the chaplain to the French hospital a few blocks from Mirna's house. He also has his superior's permission to report all that happens. He sends copies of everything to his superior and to the Vatican. So, it was good that my bishop stopped me and Malouli took over. He has done an excellent job." "Do you think I can get copies of all these documents? I will pay for all the costs." "I'm sure you can, and you will not have to worry about the costs. Father wouldn't ever accept your money. The messages don't allow acceptance of money." "Okay. I'll get into all that later. I'll have to talk to the bishop and the other priests around town. Let's have a look at Fidelity." Up to now I had not heard much about the messages. My priest at the Italian hospital was busy translating them from Arabic to English, but he wasn't finished yet. It was surprising to me that after seven years there was not one English translation. "What are the messages all about?" Father E. Zahlaoui thought for a second. In Arabic he said, "There are many, but the main message seems to be this. . ." After Jack translated for him, he gave the message in English ================================ Testing the Spirits 73 all by himself and very slowly. "The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth is the Church. Those who divided it have sinned. Those who are happy in this division continue to sin." Suddenly, this statement shocked me. My mind raced back over the past five years. I had mastered the Bible and the Dogma of Faith. I was well read in the History of the Church. I taught adult religious classes. There were only two questions I felt I didn't know. I would ask every new priest I met the same question over and over for five years. It had been only a few months prior to this day that I discovered the answer in the writings of St. Augustine. The passage I could not understand was this: "Amen I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN is greater than he. But from the days of John the Baptist until now the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN has been enduring violent assault, and the violent have been seizing it by force." (Matt. 11:11-12). John was not in Heaven. In fact, the Gates of Heaven were still closed. "And no one has ascended into Heaven except Him who has descended from Heaven. . ." John 3:13). How could Heaven be assaulted? From Augustine I learned that the City of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, the Body of Christ, and the heavenly Jerusalem were all the same thing. They were the Communion of the Saints: the Church Militant (on earth), the Church Suffering (in Purgatory) and the Church Triumphant (in Heaven). It was one universal, spiritual Kingdom. It had been only the month before that I asked the brothers at a monastery at Rocca Di Papa, Rome, the meaning of the words "world without end" in the prayer in the Rosary. We know that the world will end. I learned that the word "world" ================================ 74 The Miracle of Damascus was a bad English translation and that the word should have been "kingdom." I was being prepared by God for this message, but I didn't know it. I told Father E. Zahlaoui that there was no way this little girl, Mirna, could have known that the Kingdom of Heaven was the Church. Not one in a thousand Christians could give the proper answer. "Yes!" he said. "She is not well educated at all. In one of the messages the word 'Emmanuel' was given. She had to ask me what the word meant. She had never heard it before." Father made an appointment for me with Father Malouli. In the meantime I picked up the English translations from the Italian hospital. The translations were not good. Father's Arabic was poor. The messages had many things in them that bothered me. Father Malouli and I met at Nicol's house. Mirna was mopping the floor again. Father couldn't speak English. Nicol translated Testing For Fidelity I wanted to know what the words "My mission is over" meant. His answer didn't satisfy me. He said that it was the last time Mirna saw the Virgin in an apparition. However, she saw and heard Her many more times in ecstasy. It was not a good answer. I would find the answer months later on my own, but for now I wasn't satisfied. Also the words, "my generation" were not explained. It seemed to me more and more that the miracles and cures were the only things people were concentrating on and not the messages. If this was from God or from Satan, the messages held the key. The most disturbing words of the apparitions were "found a Church." If I interpreted it the way I was reading it, it would create a new cult, a new division of the Church. Father pointed out that the rest of the passage explained the first sentence, but I was not happy with that choice of words coming from the Virgin Mary. It was true that the rest of the message said, "I did not say, 'build a Church.' ================================ Testing the Spirits 75 The Church which Jesus established is one Church, because Jesus is one. The Church is God's Kingdom on earth, etc." But this could be interpreted to mean a brand new church. I had to be sure. Father was not happy with my reluctance to accept his answers. Of course, we didn't speak directly to each other. Nicol was translating the best he could. I asked him to explain the words, "Those who distribute their money to the churches and the poor, but do not have love are nothing." He couldn't explain it. I was disturbing him. He was surprised, however, that I had not asked the question most people ask regarding the passage, "Pray for the inhabitants of the heavens (upper sky) and Earth." "Yes!" I said. "That passage amazed me, insofar as it came from Mirna, but it is theologically correct. Purgatory is part of the Kingdom of Heaven, and so, praying for those in the heavens (upper sky) means Purgatory." I also knew that the eastern tradition was that Purgatory was near Heaven (in the sky) and not near Hell. Anna Catherine Emmerich (who I have great loyalty to) saw Purgatory as a place in the sky. Within the week Father Malouli had the documents ready for me. He handed me a stack of paper six inches thick. But all the documents were in Arabic and French. I couldn't read any of them. At the American Embassy I found a Moslem woman who could translate them all for me. The cost of translating all of them was very high, but I liked the idea of a Moslem doing it. If there were any discrepancies or other problems, she would jump for joy to point them out. The messages, themselves, I had translated by three different people. There were also over thirty hours of video films of her ecstasies, her stigmata, the oil from her hands and the Icon, testimonials of cures, etc. I went to a video studio near the house and ordered three films in American style and three in the European style. The voltage and hertz style films I gave to Jack, along with a tape recorder and asked him to translate everything. ================================ 76 The Miracle of Damascus Looking For Satan I knew one thing for sure. If this miracle was of God, Satan wouldn't be leaving it alone. He would have to be around somewhere. In Lourdes, after Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary, over 55 other children saw what they thought was the Virgin. Mimicking God is one of Satan's tricks to diffuse God's work. Another trick is to claim God said things that He did not. I saw this first-hand in New Orleans when the Official Statue of Our Lady of Fatima cried real tears. A false mystic came following the Statue and made all kinds of claims as to what the tears meant. A great priest, Father Romagosa, was not fooled. He performed exorcism on this mystic and she ran away screaming obscenities. To this day she still has believers, even priests, within the Church. I went to the house again, but this time I did not go inside. I wandered around the streets, the park, the window, but didn't ask any questions. Up the street there was a group of Lazarist priests dedicated to the Miraculous Medal. There were Salesian priests following the Rule of Don Bosco. There was Father Paul working with the handicapped. This was a Christian area, and everything looked so perfect_too perfect, I thought. I couldn't find anyone who was against this miracle, not even the Moslems, at least not the ones who had bothered to come around. There was one man in the town who had tried to draw attention to himself by faking his picture of the Madonna with a tube through his wall, but he was quickly discovered. Some Orthodox priests had been fighting against Nicol and Mirna because of the many different kinds of religious people who entered the house. But this seemed more like greed and pride than the more clever way that Satan works. Besides, most of the Orthodox people and most of the Orthodox priests were great supporters of the miracle. The Patriarch gave written approval. Eventually, I found Satan working against the miracle in ================================ Testing the Spirits 77 two ways. The first was to put meaning into the miracle that was not there. The second would take a book to explain. It was late at night. Nicol and I had talked a long time. Mirna worked with the children changing diapers, rocking them to sleep, and at the same time, taking care of the many guests. Once in awhile she would come over to show me some new words she knew in English. but she never got into the conversations. That night some men came in from Jordan. One man was a very well dressed Greek Orthodox priest. He had a very large, solid gold cross and chain over his chest. The other men seemed to be his followers and let him do all the talking. He had come all the way to see and hear about the miracle. Nicol invited me to sit in on the conversation, but the priest claimed he couldn't speak English. Nicol told him the story of the apparitions and showed him pictures of the stigmata. He told him about the call for unity. Periodically he explained to me what they were talking about. There was something about the man I didn't like. It was an arrogance. The priest said that in Jordan they already had a unity of all the churches. He said that the people had become tired of the many different holidays and picketed the churches. They didn't allow anyone to attend Mass until the bishops agreed to make the calendars the same. They now all celebrated Easter on the same day. He talked about returning to the teachings of Christ. I began to suspect he was deciding himself what the teachings of Christ were. I asked him, since he was still an Orthodox priest, if this "returning to the teaching of Christ" meant something different from his church, and if it did, was he violating his oath of obedience. He wouldn't answer me except to say how many degrees he had and in how many universities. I asked again for an answer. This time he spoke in perfect American style English. He got up and left with his followers. Nicol didn't understand why I was asking him these questions. Later I checked into the churches of Jordan. Yes, they did ================================ 78 The Miracle of Damascus have the same Easter, and the people did strike against the churches. In fact, they prevented others from attending Mass in both the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. But there is no unity. The lesson of the French Revolution is that when respect for authority is lost, unity and peace is impossible. I wondered how a man (who claimed he couldn't speak English) could speak such perfect American English when he had to. The next place I found Satan was way off in France. There were three publications done on the Miracle of Soufanieh. A magazine did a five-page spread on it, a television station did a half-hour show, and a book was written. In all three cases Soufanieh was compared and mixed up with apparitions in other parts of the world. Because her messages were not left pure, little attention was paid to them by the readers. Just another of the many apparitions of Our Lady. They were diffused. It is what I call, "truth through association." In order to make something that is not true (the false apparition) seem true, you simply hide it in the truth (the true apparition). This also causes the faithful to mix the messages up in their minds, and Satan has diffused the work of God. The Bishop and Only the Btshop One thing I learned from twenty years of study on apparitions is that the local bishop and ONLY the local bishop has the right to make a final decision in these matters. Never in the history of the Church has a local bishop condemned an apparition and it later found to be a true apparition of God. Never in the history of the Church has Rome ever changed the ruling of a local bishop in such matters, although they could if it were of universal importance rather than local. This is true in the Orthodox Faith as well. It comes from one of the earliest bishops of Antioch, St. Ignatius in 80 A.D.: ================================ Testing the Spirits 79 "From now onwards the sensible thing would be to get back to our right rninds while there is still time to repent and turn to God. You have only to acknowledge God and the bishop, and all is well; for a man who honors his bishop is himself honored by God, but to go behind the bishop's back is to bc a servant of the devil." Catholics also have the Dogma of the Faith. "By virtue of Divine right, the bishops possess an ordinary power of government over their dioceses." (De Fide). This means that bishops (even bad bishops) are the succesaors of the Apostles and have total pastoral jurisdiction over their people in the given geographical location. They must be obeyed in all things except sin, just as you must obey your father and mother in all things except sin. Every saint in history has written on the subject, but my favorite quote is from Padre Pio: "Without obedience there is no virtue." People belittle the power of God when they think He can send the Holy Spirit to a mystic and then not be able to do the same thing to His Shepherd. In fact, the opposite is true. Satan can do many things that seem supernatural, but one thing he cannot do (because of his pride) is obey one of God's pastors. The problem of bishops in Damascus seemed insurmountlble. Mirna, who was having the apparitions and miracles, was under the jurisdiction of one bishop. Nicol (the head of the household) was Greek Orthodox. His bishop claimed jurisdiction. The priest, who recorded all documents, had even another bishop. The Vatican Nuncio, Cardinal Luigi Accogli, did his own investigations but remained neutral. To make matters worse, one of the messages reads, "Do not be fragmented like the elders." In spite of all these difficulties, the Catholic bishop of Mirna gave his blessing, keeps pictures of the Icon in his church and sends his secretary to the little house almost every night. ================================ 80 The Miracle of Damascus Nicol's Greek Orthodox Patriarch gave a written approval which has been placed in their house in large letters. This seemed so improbable after the Icon gave no oil in his church, and since Nicol wouldn't agree to keep out all other Christians. The third bishop, Father Malouli's bishop, gave the Nihil Obstat to all the messages from 1982 to 1987. Not only have these bishops given passive approval, but thirteen others have come to the house to pray, and four others have witnessed the oil coming from Mirna's hands and the Icon in other parts of the world, including America. I met with the Vatican Ambassador, the Pro Nuncio, Archbishop Luigi Cardinal Accogli, and we talked for over an hour. The stand of the Vatican is to stay neutral. However, he had conducted a chemical test on the oil and found it to be 100% pure olive oil. He told me that his chemist claimed it was not possible to obtain 100% purity by any known means. He asked me to see him before I left and to report my findings to him. Unfortunately, I was not able to do so, due to my sudden departure. For now, I was more than satisfied with the reaction of the bishops. Why Damascus? God is the architect of history. If He picked Mirna, He also picked her husband, the priests around her (especially Father Malouli), the bishops, and even the city. I could see why He would pick Nicolas. He was gentle and very patient (considering all the commotion in the house everyday). He claims to have not been that way in the beginning. He is also extremely useful in that he speaks four languages very well. Whereas Nicol is a great communicator, Mirna doesn't like a lot of talking. If I were God, I couldn't have picked a better man. The many priests are also perfect. The bishops speak for themselves. But why Damascus? I put the question to Nicol. He wasn't sure, but I had an idea. I didn't read Arabic but couldn't believe the amount of churches within walking distance of this house. I asked ================================ Testing the Spirits 81 him if he could walk me around and show me all the churches. We left at 9:00 A.M. and went to the farthermost one first. This was Our Lady of Damascus-Greek Catholic. We then went two minutes away to Our Lady of Fatima-Syrian Catholic. This is the church where the Statue of Our Lady of Fatima weeped real tears on July 20, 1977, five years before Soufanieh. We had a long talk with the pastor. Father Elias Jarjour was a beautiful man. We took pictures together in front of the statue. He and Nicol were good friends. He had thought a great deal about the messages of Soufanich. He was the same priest who was at the church when the statue cried. I asked him how this unity could possibly take place considering the many difficulties. He was a gentle man of great prayer, so I expected a good answer. I got one. Apparently, he had thought about the problem of unity. He reached into his desk and pulled out a map of the United States of America. He said, "See this, there are 50 different governments, each with different laws adopted to their way of life, and they are all bound together with one head." I never forgot that priest. There were a lot of very holy priests in Damascus, but he was at the top of the list. Right behind his church (back to back) was the only real Protestant church in the city. We went inside and met the pastor. He was a very nice man. We talked about unity of the churches. He told of his past experience of trying to get cooperation with the other Protestant churches in other counries. He had never been to the House of Soufanieh. We then walked to a Greek Orthodox Church, then to a Greek Catholic Church, then an Armenian Catholic, then a Maronite, then a Franciscan, then a Greek Orthodox, then a Russian Orthodox, then Latin Catholic, then a Lazarist, a Siyrian Orthodox, a Syrian Catholic, an Armenian Orthodox and another Greek Catholic, not to count the retreat houses, the orphanages, the old folks' homes, and the schools. We ================================ 82 The Miracle of Damascus saw nineteen churches within walking distance of Nicol's house. Why Damascus? I already knew why. We arrived at the House of Ananias. Nicol and I said some prayers in the house, and then just sat there feeling the presence of the Great Saint Paul. "It all started here," I told him. "Feel how peaceful and quiet it is," said Nicol. "Right here Paul received his sight back after three days of blindness. He was baptized here. He was infused with the Holy Spirit here. He was taught here. From here he became the light of Christianity to the world." I look at Nicol. I started thinking about what I had just said. I guess he thought about it too. "Mirna was blind for three days and nights," he said. "It was a beautiful peaceful time, just like the feeling here." I knew the story. I also knew that Pope John XXIII had predicted: "Once more the light of Christianity will come out of Damascus." A Message For Rick On the night of February 13, 1989, I was back asking difiicult questions again. I wasn't happy with the theological answers Father Malouli was giving me. Finally, as he answered and Jack interpreted, I stopped him right in the middle of his answer. "I don't want answers from theology. Let me hear from Mirna, herself." I called her over. I had never talked directly to her before. She sat next to me. I looked her right in the eyes. "Mirna, I know what you say, that you do not know religion like these priests, but answer me anyway, not from knowledge, but from your heart. Just tell me what you think and how you feel about these questions." I started putting questions to her. Jack interpreted for me ================================ Testing the Spirits 83 and for her. Her answers were simple, humble, and beautiful. All this time I was asking the wrong people. Later that evening all the priests were gone. Jack, his future wife and I were saying good-bye to Nicol and Mirna. "I'm sorry for all the difficult questions," I told her. "But tomorrow I will have even harder ones for you." Jack interpreted and Nicol spoke up without thinking what he was saying. "Maybe God will answer you." Jack and I stepped down to the lower patlo and went over to look at the Icon. I just wanted to see if the three oil drops were still hanging onto the picture. They had been there for three months now. There was a light inside the marble box, and I found it incredible that those three drops had hung on there in that heat for so long a time without dropping off. Nothing has that much viscosity. I said a prayer to Our Lady. Mirna and Jack's fiancee came and stood next to me. I turned to leave and noticed that Mima's eyes were all wet, and tears were starting to show. I didn't know what was wrong. As I looked at her, she opened her hands and turned the palms up. They were covered with oil. I placed my hands on top of hers and pulled the oil off. My hands were filled with oil. The oil continued to come out. She went over to the Icon and placed her head against the glass and started to pray out loud. I didn't understand the words, but I understood the emotion. She began to sing her prayer. I felt she should be left alone, so I whispered to Nicol that I was going to leave. I went outside. In the street Nicol, Jack, his friend, and I talked softly for a few minutes. My hands were still wet from the oil. Mirna came outside and started to say something to me. Then she remembered that I didn't understand Arabic. I spoke for her. "Yes, I know. That was meant for me." When I got home that night the oil was still on my hands. I had seen another miracle, but I couldn't let that stop my ================================ 84 The Miracle of Damascus investigation. Only logic and the proven methods of discernment must be used. I could not let emotions get in my way. Why Greek Orthodox? Nicol and I sat on the upper patio where the first apparitions took place and enjoyed the cool spring weather. Everything was peaceful. I had really grown to like him as a friend. If there had never been a miracle, I still think we would have become close friends. I felt he was a man who wasn't afraid of the truth. Some people only want the truth that feels good to them, or the truth that fits there lifestyle. But Nicol seemed to be unafraid of the total truth, no matter what the results. Jack Toumajyan was that way also. The day was too nice to do anymore testing, and so I didn't. We were joined by Michael Farah. He was a large man and a Greek Orthodox priest with a long, black beard. You couldn't help but love him. Happiness seemed to pour out of him. It turned out that he was the father of Nicol's sister-in-law, and the father of seven children. It didn't surprise me that he was married. I knew that married men could become priests in the Orthodox Church. What suprised me was that he became a priest after getting involved in the miracle. The miracle started in 1982. He became a priest in 1985. "Did you have previous religious education?" "Oh! Heavens no! I was a playboy. I made good money and loved to follow after the sports games. If our team went to Europe, I went to Europe. I never thought about God until Mirna. No, for the first time I am genuinely happy." I could tell he was truthful. He seemed to be filled with joy of the Holy Spirit. Of this I have little doubt, even to this day. I realized that I knew little about the Greek Orthodox except that we Catholics recognized their priesthood and bishops as legitimate and therefore, their Sacraments and Mass were valid. Nicol admitted that he knew little about his own religion before the Miracle. ================================ Testing the Spirits 85 "But now I look. One thing I have noticed is that people like Father Malouli and Father Zahlaoui are far more educated than the priests of my church. Although I like the Mass better in the Greek Orthodox Church, and I think our churches are more beautiful, we have more art and our altars give more honor to God. But the Catholics have unquestionably been the friends of this miracle. All our difficulties have come from the Greek Orthodox. "Since the miracles started on the feast of the Miraculous Medal, I asked my bishop why we don't honor this feast. He said that we don't celebrate any feast or miracle that comes from the Western Church. I knew about Fatima, Lourdes, etc. I began to wonder why all the miracles are in the Western Church and not in mine." "Why do you remain a Greek Orthodox then?" I asked. "Why not join Mirna's Church?" "I thought of that, but Father Zahlaoui recommended that I stay as I am. If I left my church, none of the Greek Orthodox people would come here and pray anymore. As it is now, we all pray together. We are setting an example to the world. Besides, I don't want to take sides in this battle for unity. Who is right or wrong is not important. The important thing is that we not continue in the mistakes of our fathers. We, the people at the bottom, don't care who is right or wrong. We want (and should demand) of those on top that we have unity. If we can love each other at this level, why can't they?" I loved his answer. It was time to stop placing the blame on each other. It was time those on top realized that the average Christian didn't care about their petty prejudices. Truthfully, very few know what the dogmatic differences are, nor care. I'm not saying they don't matter, truth always matters, but that's for those on top. The people just want to be one, and to love each other. To Give Without Love Nicol took me to see Father Paul Slaeman of the Lazarists. His little center for the handicapped was just beyond the water ================================ 86 The Miracle of Damascus from the house of Soufanich, a two-minute walk, just behind the gate of Bab Touma. Father Paul is famous all over the world. He has six centers for handicapped children in Syria and one in Lebanon. Thousands of children are treated every year. He refuses to discriminate between Christians and Moslems; between democrats and communists. His motto is: "Who are you? I don't care. You suffer, it is enough for me." Like most of the priests in Damascus, Father Paul lives in almost total poverty. He wears secondhand clothes, hand- me-down shoes, and lives in his center. To take care of all the poor, many thousands of dollars pass through his hands, but he never keeps any for himself. I was deeply impressed with him. I could feel his saintliness. He seemed always tired but always ready to give of his time. You look into his eyes and you think you are seeing Christ. Nicol had told me of the times when he cried like a baby because he couldn't help someone. How beautiful the church was in Syria. I have always thought the true church was most like Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She loves everyone without distinction. This love she has is for the Christ that she sees in all His creatures. Because of this love, thousands are baptized each year through her. Here in Damascus, a Moslem country, it seems all the Church is that way. Father Felix, of the same Lazarist Order, takes unselfish care of the education of young kids, and is like a father to the other priests. The sisters at the Italian hospitai work day and night with kindness and joy. My own priest (the one without discernment, but nonetheless I love him dearly) never rests in his quest to help everyone. I remembered the two days I was too sick to attend Mass. He came to me with communion on his bicycle in the freezing cold. That would never happen in America. I never felt so much love as in Damascus. But what did the messages mean? ================================ Testing the Spirits 87 "He who pretends to be pure and charitable before men is impure before God . . . I do not ask for money that is given to the churches, nor for that which is distributed to the poor. I ask for love. Those, who distribute their money to the churches and poor but do not have love, are nothing." I could see the answer here with Father Paul. He wasn't helping these people so that God would think better of him. He wasn't loving God and people and then expecting anything from God or the people. He loved because he loved. Prostitutes love for a price. Some love to be loved, which is also a price (even the thieves do that). Father Paul loves because he loves, and this love comes from Christ. Where Does the Icon Come From? One of the constant questions I kept asking everyone I met in Damascus was the origin of the Icon. Absolutely no one seemed to know. It's only a photographic copy of an original picture. Nicolas bought it in 1979 in front of the Church of Sophia in Bulgaria, two years before his marriage. He doesn't remember any significance to it. He bought several copies in cheap, plastic frames as gifts for his family. The damaged frames probably made them less expensive. In Damascus I found no answers. It seemed to me there had to be an original painting somewhere, and this painting had to have some relationship to either the splits in the Church or the unity of the Church. Three months later in Rome I would discover for the first time that the split between the East and West started in Bulgaria. Damascus played an important role at the time also. In 726 A.D. Emperor Leo III of Constantinople decided he had the right to make Church law and prohibited the use of images in the churches. St. John Damascene of Damascus defended the Church in his famous letter, "Apology For The Veneration Of Images." This set the stage for--Bulgaria. The barbarian tribes in Bulgaria were being converted in ================================ 88 The Miracle of Damascxs a surprisingly fast way by the Christians. The King of Bulgaria sent letters to Pope Nicholas asking for a diocese to be set up. This angered Photius, the Patriarch of Constantinople. Bulgaria was the separation ground between East and West. It was the gateway. Photius wrote an Encyclical Letter to the Archiepiscopal Sees of the East in 866 A.D. accusing Pope Nicholas of spreading false doctrines among the Bulgarians. The split began in Bulgaria, and now we have an Icon from Bulgaria pouring out oil. Why? I don't know. I do know that one of the doctrines of dispute was whether a priest (or only a bishop) had the right to confirm. Confirmation is the receiving of the Holy Spirit, and it is done by anointing with oil. OIL IS THE SYMBOL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. I have thought about all these things and the similarities between them and the Miracle of Damascus: an Icon (Iconoclasm) from Bulgaria, (the gateway between East and West) in Damascus, John Damascene) bought by a man named Nicholas (Pope Nicholas), pouring out oil (the symbol of the Holy Spirit). So far, though, I don't know anything about the original painting except rumors that it too poured out oil at some distant past. The True Fruits of the Holy Spirit In researching the piles of documents, I became impressed with the total number of documented cures. In the first years of Guadalupe, Lourdes, Fatima, and the Miraculous Medal, there were a lot of documented cures. This miracle seemed to equal them. Only those of Padre Pio, of all the miracles I had studied, surpassed this one. I read the doctors' reports. I met the people involved both in Damascus and in California. On a street called "Straight" you can find a man who was in a coma. The doctors said he was brain-dead and wouldn't recover. They were going to remove the machine that kept his heart beating. His wife refused to believe and ran after Mirna. Mirna prayed with her over the body. He came back to life, walked from the hospital to a flower shop, and from there he walked to the House of Soufanich (he refused all ================================ Testing the Spirits 89 offers to ride). A large crowd followed him. At the little house he knelt down before the Icon of the Madonna and Child and gave thanks with tears of joy. He cried again as he told me this story. In California you can meet a boy, Samer Sayegh, 2684 Waite Avenue, Apartment 1, Chico, California 95926. In 1982 he was totally crippled from birth with twisted legs. In 1982 he was cured and still testifies to the miracle today. Or speak to Jabra Tawil. He had so many things wrong with his body he had given up on life, God, and everything. Now, he cannot stop praying and praising the Madonna and sister Mirna. Before Mirna, Jabra managed to go to church once a year and had not been to communion in twenty years. He had never prayed a Rosary. Now he prays Rosaries everyday with other prayers. In fact, his entire life is the Virgin Mary and Christ. These cures are so numerous that they would constitute a book in themselves (a book that will be put together soon and will be over 800 pages). The oil seems to be the medium, for people have been cured thousands of miles away from Mirna, using either the oil obtained from her or oil that came out of their own copies of the Icon. All of these I am sure the reader wants to hear about, but the true cures are the cures of faith. Armen Hovsepian of Glendale, California, had a life of alcohol and women. His conversion back to religion came from Mirna. Now he can talk of nothing else, prays everyday, and works constantly for the unity of the churches. He sends flowers to Damascus every month. His brother, Vatche, shows films of Mirna at his buslness. He works for unity everyday, prints tens of thousands of pictures of the Icon and gives them away. No one, absolutely no one, has worked harder for Our Lady than he has. In Damascus at this little house I have never seen such continuous prayer anywhere in the world Watching a large group praying the Rosary one night, I voiced my joy in seeing Greek Orthodox priests alongside ================================ 90 The Miracle of Damascns Catholic priests and nuns praying the Rosary together. Nicol told me something at that point I didn't know. "You know, of course, that the Greek Orthodox don't pray the Rosary." There they were, Orthodox and Catholic priests, with beads in hand praying together as one. And when the Orthodox pray the Tiipermakho or the Tinoreotita (Rosary type prayers to Our Lady), there are the Catholics praying with them. All you have to do (to see this grace) is meet Joseph, a three-foot tall dwarf. Joseph worked the circus in front of Nicolas' house. He never prayed, and his life was far from holy. To see him pray with tears of joy coming down his face is to see the joy of Heaven. When he had to leave Damascus, he cried constantly, for the House of Soufanieh had become his home. The true fruits of the Holy Spirit are best expressed in the story of a baptism. Many Baptisms are performed in this little house and usually by priests from many different kinds of churches, who pour the water and anoint with the oil all together to express their desire for unity. The father of one of these children watched as his son was being baptized. Oil starting pouring out of Mirna's hands. He began to cry, a cry of repentance. For many years he had a sin on his soul that he refused to confess in the confessional. At the sight of this baptism and the oil, he ran to Father Malouli and confessed. I see the happiness in him to this day and it is real. It is the joy of the Holy Spirit. Never in my life have I seen this joy so prominent as in Mirna's cousin, who lives in the House of Soufanieh. Her father died as she prayed at his bedside. When you see her, though, all your depressions will go away. Her smile, her laughter, her constant charity will so impress you that you will imagine you are looking at the Mother of God as a little child. She is only ten years old. Her mother and her two brothers have the same happy charity, a giving of themselves with joy. ================================ Testing the Spirits 91 There was a dangerous epidemic in Damascus when I was there. The government did not have enough vaccine for the people. I was in the House of Soufanieh twice watching hundreds of children being vaccinated by a doctor. Mirna had been given the vaccine free (once from France and once from a government official). To see the happiness of these parents receiving, and the joy of giving on Mirna's face is to see true love. If you watched the little ten-year-old girl running around consoling the little children with her big smile and hugs, it would have brought tears of joy to your eyes. Two things expressed the unity of the Holy Spirit the most. One was the baptism of Nicol's and Mirna's first child, Myriam. But first I must tell a story about the name "Myriam." Nicol and I were walking through a religious bookstore in Los Angeles, California. I saw a book called "Myriam." I pointed it out to him. "Look! There is the name of your daughter. Who is Myriam? Is she some saint?" "I don't know," said Nicolas. "We just named her that because it was close to Mirna's name, but we didn't want the same name." I picked up the book and looked at the first chapter. Myriam was the actual name of Mary, the Mother of God, when she was on earth. It is Hebrew for "Mary." Anyway, back to her baptism. At Myriam's baptism six priests from every different kind of religion baptized her at the same time. As they poured water over her and as they anointed her, oil poured out of Mirna's hands. Perhaps this baptism was the first step towards the unity of all the churches, for when a child is baptized, it enters the Kingdom of Heaven for the first time. In this baptism, the churches held hands together in love and said in one voice, "Enter the Kingdom. Enter into the Body of Christ." On Good Friday, Joseph (the little giant) and I were going to take Mirna to Father E. Zahlaoui's church, Our Lady of Damascus. She wanted me to see the Mass and the candlelight procession. At the last minute she couldn't go. Someone was in desperate ================================ 92 The Miracle of Damascxs need of her type of blood at the Italian hospital. She begged Nicol to let her go. She said this was the day Christ gave his blood, and this was a year she didn't have to. He couldn't refuse the argument. I had to laugh a him, though, because she left him home alone to babysit the children on this great holiday. Joseph and I left him with our sympathy and playful jokes. When we arrived at the church, I realized why Mirna wanted me to go. We went very early, but the large church was filled, the aisles were filled, the streets were filled. People were even on the roof and the tall steeple. No one called this church "Our Lady of Damascus." They called it "Father Zahlaoui's Church." He saw Joseph and me and led us to the loft. There were hundreds of singers in the loft all dressed in gowns. They made room for us, but I wanted pictures of all this. I took pictures during the Mass and then ran outside. Father Zahlaoui brought over a man who spoke English and told him to take care of us. I told him I wanted to climb the tower to take pictures. He was afraid because the spiral stairs were old and very narrow. But I went to the top anyway and climbed out on the roof. At the top, the tower was about seven feet wide. I looked down at the crowd. There were over ten thousand people. The "coffin of Christ" was brought out of the church and everyone lit candles. They marched down the street around the block past several other churches. The procession went around in a circle of many blocks and back to the church. But from where I was I could see everything. There were so many people that the tail met the head in the march. Why was I so impressed with this sight? Because those people were not only Catholics. Those people down there were Catholics, and Greek Orthodox, and Moslems, and Jews, and communists, and Palestinians, and Syrians, and Lebanese. They were all singing and praying together. They were honoring God in perfect unity, a unity of love and a unity of prayer. The FOCOLARE movement is another example of unity. ================================ Testing the Spirits 93 They have members from many different Churches. Focolare (family fireside) has been praying for unity for many years. Anyway, to get back to the baptism of Myriam and Father E. Zahlaoui's Mass, these are the true gifts of the Holy Spirit. "I pray that they may be one as You and I are one." Eyes But Refuse To See While I tested the phenomenon of Soufanich, I continued my work at the American Embassy. After work, I took a taxi to Bab Touma. It cost 15 pounds (about 30 cents). Then I walked to the house next to the river which took about three minutes. I had already seen the oil from Mirna's hands, the Icon, and many miracles. Everyday I told the people at the Embassy to come with me and see for themselves. Everyday I told them what I saw. There were over a hundred people working at the Embassy. Only one man went there in the six months I worked in Damascus, and he went because he heard some girls were going, and he wanted to meet them. In the Embassy there was one man, who preached his Christ every day. Day after day I asked him to go to Soufanieh with me and see for himself. He never did. Day after day I pointed out Bible passages that showed the errors of his preaching. Before large groups of workers, over and over I would prove him wrong on point after point, but never would he give in. I asked him, "Even if you do not believe there are any miracles in Soufanieh, and even if you do not believe in anything about my Church, why are you afraid to go and see?" The truth will always shine brighter than a lie. If you have the truth, you are never afraid of freedom of religion. True freedom of religion is freedom of information. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. To be afraid to know is a sin against the Holy Spirit. In talking to my fellow Americans at the Embassy, I couldn't help but think about Luke 16 in the Bible. In the story of ================================ 94 The Miracle of Damascus the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man found himself.in Hell, whereas Lazarus was in the bosom of Abraham. The rich man pleaded with Abraham to send Lazarus to the earth to see his brothers so that they would not end up in Hell like him. But Abraham knew that when men are blind they will not even believe in miracles. A common attitude among those who don't go to any church at all is that if God wants them to do something special, He will have to tell them. But they will not cross the street to see for themselves. This really came home to me in Damascus. Those who wouldn't take a five-minute (30 cent) taxi drive, will have no excuse before their Judge when they say, "I didn't believe, but You should have showed me the way." There were other people besides those at the Embassy. One Syrian I met said he didn't believe in Soufanich. But, when I questioned him, he had never gone there. The Final Test I had tested the phenomenon of Soufanieh in every way I knew. I tested it for Obedience and it passed. I tested it for Fidelity to Doctrine and Tradition and it passed. I tested it for Humility and Simplicity and it passed. I tested it for Fraud and it passed. I had determined that it was not fraud and was not from Satan. It had to be a miracle of God. But this was not enough. There was still the possibility that it could develop into a cult or a new religion without the proper guidance. Mirna wasn't a leader and that was good. But there were others around who didn't have a strong religious education. There were some who were caught up in the feeling of God's presence but had not yet ================================ Testing the Spirits 95 seen the road (the door) God was opening to them. They could possibly lead her and the whole thing in the wrong direction. I wrote my final question down and had it translated into Arabic. I asked her to give me an answer in writing. My reason was two-fold. One was to see if a cult could develop; and two, was to see if one of the messages would result in a mass disobedience. The message is, "Do not be fragmented like the elders." This was my question. Dear Mirna, What I am about to ask is very important, and your answer will be included in the book about "THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN." After your answer, I will elaborate on this question, but first I will keep it very simple. As you know, I have been investigating this miracle to see if it is from God, from Satan, or simply fraud. I have determined that it cannot be fraud, and it is not from Satan. However, just because Heaven has visited you does not guarantee your salvation, and it does not guarantee that other people (perhaps influenced by Satan) could not make something wrong out of God's plan for unity. So, I ask this crucial but enlightening question-- "God is asking for unity and unity from the bottom (the people) up to the top (the clergy and the bishops). What are some of the ways this request might be realized?" The Publican Nicol said that when she read it she laughed because at first she thought it was easy to answer. She showed it to Father Malouli and Father E. Zahlaoui. They didn't take it lightly, but they refused to help her with it. After a week, I asked her for the answer. She had not given it yet. Another week went by and she had not answered it. ================================ 96 The Miracle of Damascus Finally, I talked to her. She said that she didn't know the answer; "It should be up to other people HOW to have unity." Actually, that was a great answer, but I didn't tell her that. "Mirna, let me tell you a story." [Jack repeated it in Arabic.] Once I was forced to go before a large group of people to teach the Rosary. When I got in front of the microphone, I just stood there and stared at the audience. I told God that if He wanted me to talk, he would have to do it for me. I was not going to say a word. In time I started talking, and I was enjoying what my mouth was saying. So, put a pen in your hand and start writing. Let the Holy Spirit write it for you." The next day I received her answer. Jack read the Arabic answer back to her and asked her if she really wanted to use the word "stupid." In good English she said: "Yes, Yes, I want to use it." She laughed. Before writing the English translation, Jack wanted to change the wording "God has no time" to "is timeless or eternal." She had no objection, but I said, "No! What she is saying is theologically correct, even if she doesn't know it." Once he felt he had a good understanding of the words in Arabic, Jack sat down and wrote out the English. He gave it to me. As I read I felt as if she were still looking for an answer in the beginning, but as I read on I felt as if someone else was answering for her. "In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God, Amen. "To brother Richard, "To the one whom God has chosen to spread the good news in His name. Do you think you want to realize anything yourself? No, it is all by His Will. ================================ Testing the Spirits 97 "I am a simple girl. My mission is to pass God's message to the people. It doesn't concern me whether they believe [or not], because their faith reflects on themselves, but I feel happy because, with God's power, I remove the dust from the eyes of stupid people who don't appreciate God's power except when they need it. "I used to be stupid like them. I knew that God existed, but I didn't know the extent of His power on people. I used to fear Him because people made me fear Him. After this experience, I am no longer afraid of God, because God is merciful and full of charity. I fear people because they distance me from God with their demands. I am afraid of losing my humility and simplicity because of them, and if I lose my humility, then I have lost my life, and my life is Christ. "I would like to clarify something about this phenomenon. Until now, I know nothing. Only God alone knows everything. Why He chose me, I don't know. Why a married woman living with her husband and her children, also I don't know. Why in this house and not in church [the place worthy of Christ], also I don't know. But if I knew all this, my power would have been so great as to equal God's power, but this is impossible because God's mystery is deep. No matter how strong our knowledge is, we cannot get to know God truly, as He knows us. "If this phenomenon is false and of people's doing, why should I get involved rashly and destroy my own house? At the beginning of the phenomenon I was a new bride, and life offered me big opportunities to enjoy myself because my husband, Nicolas, loves life and enjoys it, and so do I. Life is beautiful without Christ because you don't have to give an account of your actions to anyone. This is in this life, but not in the life to come. "But with our knowledge of Christ, our life has changed. It became clear that life with Christ is more beautiful, although there are difficulties because God's way is diff1- ================================ 98 The Miracle of Damascus cult. But with God's power we can bear our daily cross and with real happiness. Our happiness was false. It was acting and pretence. Now it has become an inner joy. Christ has moved into us and into our hearts. Our joy is God's love for us, our love for Him and our truthfulness to Him. "If this phenomenon is, however, of Satan, then I welcome him. This means Satan has repented, since he allows us to pray in the name of God for seven years untiringly and without boredom. "As to those who say that I am married, and this is a shame because God chooses unmarried girls and often nuns, I say that if my marriage is a shame, then our faith is false. As my husband and I are one body in marriage, attuned together, so we are all one body in Christ, but not all attuned together. "As for unity, it can only be achieved through prayer. What God is asking of us is difficult. It won't come about unless the big ones give up their seats, their haughtiness, and their greed. God is able to unify us in His own way, but He wants this from us to discover the extent of our love for Him. He sacrificed His life on the cross for our sake, while we only love Him when He gives us what we ask of Him. "As I said above, I was stupid to love the many feasts of Christ recurring a number of times, but now I have some awareness. I know that Christ is one in all of us, as we should be one in Him. "As Jesus said to Peter, "You are the rock on which I shall build my Church," here He comes again to tell us that we are His Church. "You are my Church, and your heart is mine." We have to understand what He wants and do it. With faith and prayer, people must become aware of the truth and know that whoever divided us has been punished by God, and we should put right this immense wrongdoing against Christ. We should not continue in it. ================================ Testing the Spirits 99 "Would unity fulfill what Jesus Christ has asked of us? From my point of view, unity will not be achieved unless we unify our hearts and plant peace, love and faith in them. This peace can only be through the one Christ. We must, therefore, pray to God with insistence to put peace in our hearts and to remove hatred and selfishness from the hearts of His children, who are only His when in need and who sell Him off when He needs them. "But if we love each other as Christ has asked us to do, then His Will will be done, and we shall gather all the churches in one Church, called God's one house, and we shall all meet under one roof--God willing. "When will this be accomplished? I don't know, because I live in time, and God has no time. But to go on in our sin [division] is horrible and unjust to us and to Christ. "Mirna" Judge her answer for yourself. As for me, I can think of no greater gift to give to my Church than to work for the prayer of Christ at the last supper: "that they may be one even as We are one." John introduced Christ by saying, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand." Christ began His preaching with the same words. He taught us to pray for this Kingdom in the Lord's prayer. Now, let us work, pray, and even demand that the Kingdom of Heaven on earth be again united. Yes, if this miracle is of Satan, he is a fool, because unity can only tighten his chains. He wants to divide and conquer. A united Church will be a beacon to the world. ================================ CHAPTER 3 The Kingdom of Heaven The Miracle of Damascus is not without a reason. All the miracles, the oil from the icon, the oil from Mirna, the stigmata, and the cures, are bells being rung by God so that we will listen to His Words. Before we look closer at His Words (the messages) and analyze what they are saying, we must first establish what is meant by "THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN." All the messages of Soufanieh pivot around this statement. If the Virgin Mary said nothing else except "The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth is the Church," it should be enough to bring about unity. In these words is a great lesson if we would only take them and relate them to the Bible. There were many reasons for divisions in the past, mostly political and national. Today these divisions maintain themselves and continue to divide because of misunderstandings as to what it means to be a follower of Christ. The great majority of Christians today have inherited their religion from their ancestors, and have no concept of what is meant by "Church." When we establish what Christ means by "Kingdom of Heaven on Earth" or "Church," all the walls of division will come tumbling down. The concept of "Church" is what divides all Christians. Some assert that you must be "born again in Christ" by accepting Him as your personal saviour and that you then become His church. Some say an organized Church is not necessary. They say that each individual is the "Church." Some of these same people believe that the words "Kingdom of Heaven" mean that Christ and His Kingdom will come down out of the sky and stay with us for one thousand years. If this is true, 100 ================================ The Kingdom of Heaven 101 then there was no reason for the apparitions of Damascus. Others maintain that only those who hold fast to the teachings of the Apostles are true followers of Christ, but then who decides what are the true teachings of Christ? History has proven that as a person develops a good argument for some position and gets a following, a new Church is born, further dividing the Kingdom of Christ into many positions on faith. Within the Catholic Church today there is a heresy called "PLURALISM." It has been condemned by all the Popes of the Twentieth Century. Pluralism is the belief that all religions are okay in the eyes of God and that it doesn't matter what religion you belong to. If this were true, God would not see the need for the Miracle of Damascus. If "Pluralism" were true, God would not need to ask for unity. None of these divisions would have ever happened if we had all known and understood the constant teachings of the Old Testament prophets, Christ, the Apostles, and the Doctrine of the Faith regarding the "Kingdom." 1 To understand this "Kingdom" properly, I have decided to give a special chapter to these words, for once you understand the concept of "Kingdom," the entire Bible takes on new light. Where do I start? To tell the truth, it amazes me that people (including myself for many years) don't understand the "Kingdom on Earth." I think before getting into the words of Scripture, we should start on a lighter note. To do this, I would like to borrow a little story from Jack McArdle (I hope he forgives me). 2 "Once a village blacksmith had a vlsion. An angel came to tell him that God was calling him home to the fullness of the Kingdom. _____ 1. See "The Church in Scripture and Tradition," Part 2: Chapter 1 in "Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma" by Dr. Ludwig Ott. 2.Jack McArdle, "The Voice of Padre Pio," Vol. XIX, No. 3, 1989. ================================ 102 The Miracle of Damascus " 'I thank God for thinking of me,' replied the blacksmith, 'but as you know, the season for sowing the crops is beginning, as I am the only blacksmith in these parts, who will help these poor people when a horse needs to be shod, or a plough needs to be fixed? I don't want to appear ungrateful, but do you think I could put off taking my place in the Kingdom until I have finished?' " 'I'll see what can be done,' said the angel, as he vanished. The angel returned a year or two later with the same message. This time, however, a farmer was seriously ill, and the blacksmith was trying to save his crop for him, so that his family wouldn't suffer. The angel was sent back to see what could be done. This happened again and again, and on each occasion the blacksmith just spread his hands in a gesture of resignation and compassion, and drew the angel's attention to where the suffering was and where his help was needed. "Eventually, the blacksmith felt very old and tired, and he prayed, 'Lord, if You would like to send Your angel again, I think I'd be happy to see him.' The angel appeared. 'If you still want to take me,' said the blacksmith, 'I am ready to take up my abode in the Lord's Kingdom.' "The angel looked at the blacksmith in surprise and said, 'Where do you think you've been all these years.'" I hope you enjoyed that. Now, let us get down to understanding this "Kingdom of Heaven on Earth." Old Testament The Jews expected an earthly Kingdom. Even the Apostles, in spite of His teachings, didn't understand this Kingdom until Pentecost. Today we have a new group who expect an earthly Kingdom coming down out of Heaven where Christ will live with them for a thousand years. Let us see how these ideas stack up to the words of Holy Writ. In order to establish what is meant by "Kingdom of Heaven," we must first go to the Old Testament. It is from ================================ The Kingdom of Heaven 103 these passages we will see why the Jews expected a Messiah who would establish an earthly kingdom. In Isaias 9:6-7 we find the prediction of the Kingdom. "For a Child is Born to us, and a Son is given to us, and the government is upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace. "His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: He shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and forever." They even knew where this child would be born. "And thou, Bethlehem Ephrate, art a little one among the thousands of Juda; out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel; and His going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity." (Micheas 5:2). There was no question in the Jews' mind that this was a kingdom, for even Daniel spoke of it. It is easy to see in these following words why they did not recognize Christ. They looked for an earthly king, and they thought of themselves as the saints of the Most High. Put yourselves in their shoes. Could you have imagined (without divine light) that God, Himself, would come down on this earth as a man? "And He gave Him power, and glory, and a kingdom; and all peoples, tribes and tongues shall serve Him. His power is an everlasting power that shall not be taken away, and His kingdom that shall not be destroyed." (Daniel 7:14) "--But the saints of the most high God shall take the kingdom; and they shall possess the kingdom for ever and ever." (Daniel 7:18) "and the saints obtained the kingdom." (Daniel 7:22) "And that the kingdom, and power, and the greatness of the kingdom, under the whole Heaven, may be given to the people of the saints of the most High: whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all Kings shall serve Him, and shall obey Him." (Daniel 7:22). ================================ 104 The Miracle of Damascus The Kingdom in Christ's Words The Jews didn't recognize Christ, because they looked for an earthly king, and it was a kingdom Christ came to establish. John, the Baptist prepared the way for Christ by announcing "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Christ started His preaching in Capharnaum by saying the same thing. "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." (Matt. 4:17). In Matt. 8:11-12, Christ predicts many will come into the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, but the former children of the Kingdom (the Jews) will be cast out. He commissioned twelve Apostles and told them to preach the message, "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." (Matt. 10:7). In speaking of John, the Baptist, Christ says, "Amen I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. But from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven has been enduring violent assault, and the violent have been seizing it by force." (Matt. 11:11-12). We could take this to mean "Heaven" in the sky, but we know from Christ's conversation with Nicodemus in John 3:13 that no one from earth had entered Heaven. The gates of Heaven were still closed and would be until His death on the Cross. "And no one has ascended into Heaven except Him who has descended from Heaven; the Son of Man who is in Heaven." If he only meant "Heaven in the Sky," how could Heaven be assaulted? I'm sure even the twelve Apostles didn't understand. Christ said not all would understand. "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given." (Matt. 13:11). He began to speak in parables about the Kingdom of Heaven because, "seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, neither do they understand." (Matt. 13:13). ================================ The Kingdom of Heaven 105 He goes on to say, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like. . . [good seeds and weeds growing together]" in Matt. 13:24-30. "The Kingdom of Heaven is like. . . [the growing of a mustard seed]" in Matt. 13:31-35. So that there can be no mistake what He means, Christ explains that the Kingdom of Heaven is on this EARTH. "The field is the world; the good seed, the sons of the Kingdom; the weeds, the sons of the wicked one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil." (Matt. 13:38). To further prove the Kingdom is on EARTH, "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all scandals and those who work iniquity. . ." (Matt. 13:41). In the parable, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure. . ." (Matt. 13:44-46). He lets them know that nothing is more important than entering the Kingdom. In "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a net cast into the sea," He explains that in the Kingdom will be the good and the bad. (Matt. 13:47-49). In Matt. 13:52 Christ teaches that the Kingdom will be new but draw from the old. Regarding something new, He predicts there will be virgins in His Kingdom. ". . .and there are eunuchs who have made themselves so for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven." (Matt. 19:12). In Chapter 20 of Matt., he explains that no one is first or last in the Kingdom of Heaven, and many are called but few chosen. And something old: it would not do away with the old law, but complete it. His miracles show that the Messianic empire of God has already come (Matt. 12:28). As conditions for the entry into the Kingdom of God, Jesus demands justice (Matt. 5:20), fulfillment of the Will of His Father (Matt. 7:21), a childlike disposition (Matt. 18:3). He enjoins His hearers to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 6:33), threatens the Pharisees with exclusion from the Kingdom of God (Matt. 21:43, 23:13), and proclaims the transfer of the Kingdom of God from the Jews to the Pagans. (Matt. 21:43). Jesus does not understand the Kingdom of God purely eschatologically. It is a Kingdom which will be founded and which will continue while the world lasts, and which will be ================================ 106 The Miracle of Damascus completed in the future world. Many of the parables spoken by Our Divine Lord, for example, of the sower of the seed, of the cockle in the wheat, of the net, of the leaven, of the mustard seed, depict the Kingdom of God IN THIS WORLD. Even after He died and rose from the dead, He preached the Kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3). They still did not understand and asked "Lord, wilt You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). Christ had told them that the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth was not to be a kingdom like David's, but a spiritual Kingdom of God, but they didn't understand. "The Kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21). It is a Kingdom of grace, of the Holy Spirit, of love. The old kingdom was a covenant God made with Abraham, a covenant of circumcision. The new Kingdom would have a new covenant, the body and blood of Christ. "This cup is the New Covenant in My blood..." (Luke 23:20). After the Apostles received the Body and Blood of Christ at the Last Supper He said, "And I appoint to you a Kingdom, even as My Father has appointed to Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My Kingdom; and you shall sit upon thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Luke 22:29-30). The Kingdom In The Apostles' Words The central idea of the teaching of Christ in the gospels was the "Kingdom of God." It is surprising then to see how comparatively rare the term occurs in the other books of the New Testament. The words "Kingdom of Heaven" or "Kingdom of God" occur thirteen times in Mark, thirteen in John, twenty-five in Matthew, and six in Luke. The reason for this is that Christ spoke primarily to the Jews who understood the meaning and the prophecy of the coming Kingdom. When speaking to the Apostles alone, Christ used the word "Church" instead of "Kingdom." "And if he refuse to hear them, appeal to the Church, but if he refuse to hear even the Church, let him be to ================================ The Kingdom of Heaven 107 thee as the heathen and the publican." (Matt. 13:17). "Upon this rock I will build My Church." After Pentecost this new terminology developed. . . Instead of"Kingdom" they used "ecclesia," which means "a gathering." The Apostles used this word to mean "a community of believers." The English translation of this word is "Church." This Church was referred to as a Brotherhood (I Cor. 6:5, 1 John 3:10-17 and thirty times in Acts), as Sons of God (Rom. 9:26, 2 Cor. 6:16-18, Heb. 2:10), as a Household and Family (Acts 2:36, 7:42, Heb. 3:2-6, 1 Pet. 2:5), as the Bride of Christ (Eph. 5:21, 5:24-27, 29, 31, Rev. 19:7, Rev. 22:17), as a Vineyard and Flock (Cor. 3:5-9, Rom. 11:16-24), as the Way, as the Ark, but most often as "the Body of Christ." The Body of Christ The Church is described as "one body in Christ" (Rom. 12:5) and as the "Body of Christ" (Eph. 1:23). The Church refers to those who are united in Him and through Him. They become one body in Him, and this oneness is described in many varying ways. They are baptized into His death (Rom. 6:1-5, 1 Cor. 12:13). They are crucified with Him to the self, to the world, to the law of sin and death (Rom. 6:6-15). They now glorify God in their bodies by carrying about the dying of Jesus, and by manifesting the life of Jesus in their mortal bodies (2 Cor. 4:10-12). This body binds men together in a Communion of life and righteousness, over which Christ rules (Rom. 5:15-21). In the new body, all are members one of another, and this requires the recognition of mutual dependence, of a shared suffering, and of the power of love to knit together all the parts of the body. (Rom. 12:5, 1 Cor. 12:14-26, 2 Cor. 4:7-12, Eph. 4:16, Phil. 3:10-21). In participating in baptism and in the Eucharist, the community participates in the dying body of Jesus and in His risen body. ================================ 108 The Miracle of Damascus A Universal Kingdom This Kingdom of God, this Body of Christ is not just on earth. The Body of Christ cannot be limited to the earth (the living members on earth), but it must encompass all of creation. Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven (the Body of Christ) extends itself from Earth, to Purgatory, to Heaven as a complete Kingdom of God. The word "Kingdom" means ("reign or rule") reign of God. Actually, it would be better to say that the Kingdom of Heaven expanded itself to include all those on earth who are predestined to be with Christ for all eternity. (Rev. 17:21). Every pattern of thought describing the Church shows its dependence on God in such a way as to accent the interdependence of all members of the community, past, present, and future. The cohesion is such as to encompass the whole existence of every person, and to indicate his relationship through Christ to the whole of mankind in history. There is a close interdependence between the visible community and those in Heaven. (Heb. 12:22, Rev. 3:12, 7:15, 12:12, 13:6, 21:3). The Church is described as the community of strangers and pilgrims traveling toward the Land of Promise (Heb. 10:26, 12:29, 1 Pet. 1:17, 2:11). The Church is universal in time also, "all peoples of the earth--and this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations--Going therefore teach ye all nations--I will be with you until the end of time." A Visible Kingdom The first sign of a visible Church is a hierarchy. The teaching office demands obedience to the faith. Christ appointed seventy-two disciples and commissioned them to preach "The Kingdom of God is at hand for you." (Luke 10:9). "He who hears you, hears Me; and he who rejects you, rejects Me; and he who rejects Me, rejects Him who sent Me." (Luke 10:16) ================================ The Kingdom of Heaven 109 "and I appoint to you a kingdom, even as My Father has appointed to Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom; and you shall sit upon thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Luke 22:29). This was a spiritual Kingdom of Grace, but it had to have a visible side in order to dispense the Grace. To do this a hierarchy of authority was established with deacons. (Acts 6:6), and priests (Titus 1:3, 1 Tim. 5:17, Acts 14:22) and Bishops (Acts 20:28, Titus 1:7). These bishops were often referred to as ELDERS. "Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as bishops, to rule the Church of God, which He has purchased with His own blood." (Acts 20:28). It is this visible hierarchy that holds the Kingdom together in unity. St. Ignatius of Antioch in 80 A.D. warned his people to do nothing without the bishop. His sanction was an outward sign of God's approval. "Abjure all factions, for they are the beginning of evils. Follow your bishop, every one of you, as obediently as Jesus Christ followed the Father. Obey your clergy too, as you would the Apostles; give your deacons the same reverence that you would to a command from God. Make sure that no step affecting the Church is ever taken by anyone without the bishop's sanction. The sole Eucharist you should consider valid is one that is celebrated by the bishop himself, or by some person authorized by him. Where the bishop is to be seen, there let all his people be; just as wherever Jesus Christ is present, we have the world-wide Church. Nor is it permissible to conduct baptisms or love- feasts without the bishop. On the other hand, whatever does have his sanction can be sure of God's approval." As head of the Apostles, bishops, priests, and deacons, Christ appointed Peter. "And I say to you, thou art Peter [rock], and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall ================================ 110 The Miracle of Damascus not prevail against it, and I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in Heaven." (Matt. 16:18-19). And He gave them the power to forgive sins... "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained." (John 20:23). Christ is the door to the Kingdom of Heaven, and Peter is the gatekeeper (the Keys). "Amen, amen, I say to you, he who enters not by the door into the sheepSold [the Kingdom] but climbs up another way is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is shepherd of the sheep. "To this man the gatekeeper [Peter] opens and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them forth." (John 10:1-3). "Obey your superiors and be subject to them, for they keep watch as having to render an account of your souls; so that they may do this with joy, and not with grief, for that would not be expedient for you." (Heb. 13:17). "You have come to Mount Sion, [The Church] and to the city of the living God, [The Church] the heavenly Jerusalem, [The Church] and to the company of many thousands of angels, and to the Church of the firstborn who are enrolled in the heavens, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect [All in the same family] and to Jesus, mediator of a new covenant." (Heb. 12:22-24) [Added comments]. A Single Kingdom Along with geographical expansion went an extension on the religious or theological plane. The gospel, preached in the first place to the Jews alone, was soon preached also to the Samaritans who were despised by the Jews. In this way the preaching of Christ began reestablishing the unity of the people of God. Afterward, the same gospel was preached to ================================ The Kingdom of Heaven 111 the proselytes and Gentiles, men whom the Jews hated even more than the Samaritans. Therefore, the dividing wall of hostility, as Paul called it, was broken down. (Eph. 2:14). Right from the beginning, there could have been two Churches, one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles, one for Peter and one for Paul. It made more sense at that time than ever again in history. But that wasn't the case. The Church remained one, and only one. Paul, who went alone into the world of the Gentiles, still consulted with the Apostles of Jerusalem-- "Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking also Titus along with me. And I went up in consequence of a revelation, and I conferred with them on the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but separately with the men of authonty; lest perhaps I should be running, or had run in vain." (Gal. 2:1-2). The Spirit is the instigator of this unity, where racial and social differences are abolished (Gal. 3:28). The believers are "all one in ChristJesus," because they all "were baptized into Christ. . . There is one body and one Spirit" just as there is one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. (Eph. 4:4). This unity is sealed by the bread of the Passover of which Jesus says "This is My Body" (Mark 14:22). The Church is a new beginning, a new creation, a new humanity, a new Heaven and a new Earth. A new Heaven because the death of Christ on the Cross opened the gate to Heaven; and a new Earth because Christ entered the world, and He would live in His Church until the end of time. We confess this unity in the Nicene Creed, where we confess one faith, one belief, one God. Paul presents a picture of this unity by showing it as a house (1 Tim. 3:15) and again as a human body (Rom. 12:4). He expressly enjoins internal and outward unity; "I beseech you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . that you be careful to keep the unity of the Spirit ================================ 112 The Miracle of Damascus in the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all." (Eph. 4:3-6). John wrote the Apocalypse in 96 A.D. He started out by talking about the kingdom: "To Him who has loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and made us to be a kingdom, and priests to God His Father. . . I John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom..." Then he goes on to speak to the seven bishops (angels) of the seven churches about the "things that are" (Apoc. 1:19). These seven churches are all in what is now Turkey. At the time of writing this, there were many more churches than this. The church of Jerusalem is not mentioned, nor Syria, nor Philippia, nor Rome, etc. It is probably meant for all bishops and their peoples for all times. Only one of these churches, the church of bishop Polycarp had no complaint. We should pay close attention to His words for and against these churches, especially regarding "Nicolaites andJezebel" (Apoc. 2:6, 2:20). Furthermore, we should realize that the Heavenly Jerusalem in Apoc. 3:12 and all of Apoc. 21 is the Church. This Heavenly Jerusalem extends itself from Heaven to earth as one complete Spiritual Kingdom of Christ, where all graces (shown as beautiful gems) are shared in a "Communion of Saints." Christ promised "there shall be one fold and one shep- herd." (John 10:16). And He prayed that "they may be one even as we are one." (John 17:11). So, why are there six hundred different faiths in Christ? Are there six hundred different Christs? And so, we must think hard on these things. Christ ascended into Heaven, but His mission wasn't finished. He continues to remain with us until the end of the world. He remains invisibly in the Kingdom which He established, the Church. ================================ The Kingdom of Heaven 113 The Church is the Body of Christ, His Mystical Body. The Church is Christ. You cannot claim to love Christ and not love His Church. You cannot claim to believe in Christ and not believe in His Church. Father Messias Coelho of Fatima said, "God created the world to create the Church in order to have a family to love." I believe that. When everyone believes that, we will have unity. All baptized Christians are brothers in Christ to some extent, but we are not all united in Christ, the Word of God, unless we believe the Word. Unity requires unity of belief--unity of faith. ================================ CHAPTER 4 Analyzing the Messages The messages of Christ and Mary to Mirna are filled with deep theological meanings. As is always the case in true apparitions, very few words are used to say a great deal. It is a plea from God for UNITY, FAITH AND LOVE. But more than this, it is a DEMAND that we have UNITY or ELSE. It seems that He has given up on the leaders of the Churches and is asking the LITTLE ONES, His children, to bring about this UNITY. At the same time, He makes it very clear that differences in Doctrine (different faiths) are very important to unity. Beyond this, God is also telling His children how to accomplish this UNITY. There are many aspects to this message, and I will never be able to cover all of them. There is the location of the miracle: this in itself is a message. The priests and bishops involved seem to be hand-picked by God and there is a lesson here also, four bishops from four different Churches, Lazarist priests (priests of the Miraculous Medal). Mirna and her husband are a message in themselves (Catholic and Orthodox). The Icon is a lesson. The oil, the smell of Myron, the place where Nicolas bought the Icon, the Gate of Thomas, the House of Ananias, the Missionaries of Mercy, Father Paul--all these things are part of the message of Soufanich. The fact that many of the apparitions and ecstasies took place on the EVE of a feast day and not on the day itself is important. The Eastern Churches celebrate feasts on the EVE because the next day starts when the sun goes down. However, some of the apparitions took place on feast days that only the West recognizes, such as the feasts of the Miraculous Medal, St. Joseph the Worker, etc. 114 ================================ Analyzing the Messages 115 The oil (symbolizing graces offered by the Holy Spirit) coming from the Rosary has a great deal of significance. So many things to consider. Where shall we start? In the very first message alone (Dec. 18, 1982), the words "My Children" is a lesson from the words of the Cross, "Woman, behold your son... Son, behold your mother." At that moment She became the mother of all mankind. Much could be said on this, but my pen would never stop. This is a great controversy between many Christians. The words "You know everything, and yet, you know nothing. Your knowledge is an imperfect knowledge" refers to the Bible. "To know everything" means that all that is needed to know is in the Bible, and all the Doctrine of the Church is true and complete. However, "you know nothing" refers to a complete and true understanding of the Bible and the Doctrine. This is still far from complete. This doesn't make Doctrine untrue. It only means our knowledge of it is very limited. The words "His faith is in vain" comes from James 2:24. "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith also without works is dead." The use of the word "Emmanuel" instead of "Jesus" has a reason. It tells us Christ is God and that God is with us on earth. (Emmanuel means "God is with us.") When Mary says, "I gave you more oil than you asked for," She is confirming that She is the dispenser of graces, as also shown on the Miraculous Medal, a dispute among many Christian brothers. Look at the front side of the Miraculous Medal and see the hands of Mary. See the rays pouring out of them. Then figure it all out in your own mind. "They very often do not go to pray" are words I could write a book on. "My house is a house of prayer." How many believe church is a gathering of believers and not a gathering of people to pray together? "Do not have love?" Well! "As God knows me." Read Revelation, Chapter 12, and you will see that it was a sign in the sky of Mary and the Christ ================================ 116 The Miracle of Damascus Child that was used by God to test the angels before the earth was ever created; before Mary was created. The rejection of Mary by a third part of the angels caused the angels in Heaven to be cast out. It is said that whatever God could have given to His Tabernacle (Mary), He would have. He could have given Her all the grace that is contained in all the people of the earth for all the history of the earth from Adam to the end of the world If He could, He did. He could have given Her all the knowledge possible in humans. If He could, He did. When we understand Mary, we will understand all that we will ever be able to understand of the mysteries of God. All that is good in the Kingdom is contained in Mary. As you can see, the first apparition, like all the rest, has a lot to say In many of the apparitions, we find the exact same words in the book, THE IMITATION OF CHRIST by Thomas A. Kempis (if, in fact, he was the author). It seems to me, and also to Mirna, that God is pointing to the Miraculous Medal and to "The Imitation of Christ" as the two keys to unity of hearts and to a unity of the Churches. Believe me, since my pen doesn't know when to stop, I could write a book on this first message. I must restrain myself, however, because you would never be able to follow everything to its logical conclusion. Therefore, I have decided to group the messages into categories all centered around God's call to a UNITED KINGDOM ON EARTH. First we learn that we know very little about God, YOU KNOW NOTHING. He teaches us that the Church should be one and only one, ONE CHURCH. He calls us to be an example to the Churches, OUR EXAMPLE. He criticizes the Churches for their disunity, NOT LIKE THE ELDERS. He stresses faith and shows that what you believe is important, DOCTRINE IS IMPORTANT. In the messages we can surmise that pride caused the divisions. He teaches us how unity can come about by prayer and love, LOVE THEM TO UNITY. He promises that He will be with us to guide us, TRUST IN GOD. But that it will not be an easy ================================ Analyzing the Messages 117 road, CARRY YOUR CROSS. He commands us to teach all the world this unity.of love, TEACH MY GENERATION. There is a great complaint from Him that we always ask but never give, GIVE TO GOD. And He seems to be warning us that if we don't bring about this unity, He will, and we will not like His method, OR ELSE. You Know Nothing There is an old saying among those who study God. "No dogmatic definition can be changed, but no dogmatic definition exhausts the truth." I think that is what Mary is saying in Her first meeting with Mirna: YOU KNOW EVERYTHING AND YET YOU KNOW NOTHING. YOUR KNOWLEDGE IS AN IMPERFECT KNOWLEDGE. What has been declared as the "Doctrine of the Faith" is true, and therefore, "knowing everything"; however, it is not the whole truth, and, therefore, "an imperfect knowledge." St. Thomas wrote many volumes about Christ. Christ was happy with what he wrote; nonetheless, He showed him the whole truth in a vision. St. Thomas came out of the vision and tried to burn all his books, saying that they were nothing compared to the whole truth. Perhaps all of us Christians have part of the truth about what makes up the "Kingdom," but the whole truth will bring about unity. ALL Christians have some truth. Let us get more. Truth never changes, but our understanding does. One example of this is the evolution of the Creeds of the Church: Nicene, Constantinopolitan, and Apostles' Creeds. The Creed was a declaration of belief required at Baptism. It was never meant to be the whole truth of the Church but only a summary, something to pledge. As time went on, however, things were added to it because of different heretics. We find a type of Creed in Hebrews 3:1, 4:14, 10:23;Jude 3: 2 Thess. 2:15; Rom. 6:17; Col. 2:7; Eph. 4:5; and in Acts. As time went on ================================ 118 The Miracle of Damascus creeds were developed by Justin the Martyr in the second century, Tertullian in 195, Hippolytus of Rome in 217, Origen, Firmilian of Caesarea, Eusebius, Irenaeus of Lyons, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna, etc. None of these creeds were wrong, but none of them were the same. Uniformity was needed, and so the Council of Nicaea was called in 325 to develop a Universal Creed. As time went on, things were added to this creed because of the new doctrines of heretics. The Constantinopolitan Creed was written in 381, and the words "from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary" were added. The Holy Spirit was declared the "lifegiver" as is also stated in the apparitions of Mirna. As time went on words like, "and the Son" were added; (the Greek Orthodox added "through the Son") then, "He descended into Hell"; and "the Communion of Saints"; and later, "Catholic"; (with a small "c" in some religions), and "Life Everlasting." Even the words "Communion of Saints," although always believed, evolved into a greater and greater understanding until we now know it to be a complete sharing of the Body of Christ and its gifts with all the members of the Kingdom: on Earth, in Purgatory, and in Heaven. And so, I see the words "know everything" as meaning that all knowledge is in the Bible, but the words "Imperfect knowledge" mean that we don't completely know its significance. One Church Many things happened to prepare Mirna and Nicol for the message of UNITY. There was oil from her hands, the Icon, cures, a voice, "OPEN THE DOORS," an apparition on the day of the Miraculous Medal, a second apparition stressing faith and love, more cures, another apparition with a message of humility, and then the start of the messages of unity. ESTABLISH CHURCH. I DID NOT SAY, 'BUILD A CHURCH.' THE CHURCH WHICH JESUS ADOPTED IS ONE CHURCH, BECAUSE JESUS IS ONE. THE ================================ Analyzing the Messages 119 CHURCH IS GOD'S KINGDOM ON EARTH. HE WHO DIVIDED IT HAS SINNED. HE WHO IS HAPPY IN THESE DIVISIONS HAS ALSO SINNED. JESUS ESTABLISHED IT. IT WAS VERY SMALL. WHEN IT GREW IT BECAME DIVIDED. WHOEVER DIVIDED IT HAS NO LOVE. BE UNITED. DO NOT BE FRAGMENTED LIKE THE ELDERS. MY CHILDREN, BE UNITED. MY HEART IS WOUNDED. DO NOT ALLOW MY HEART TO BE DIVIDED BECAUSE OF YOUR DIVISIONS. THE CHURCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ON EARTH. HE WHO DIVIDED IT HAS SINNED. HE WHO IS HAPPY WITH THESE DIVISIONS HAS ALSO SINNED. THE UNITY OF YOUR HEARTS IS MY FEAST. YOU ARE MY CHURCH, AND YOUR HEART BELONGS TO ME; UNLESS THAT HEART HAS CHOSEN TO FOLLOW ANOTHER GOD. I HAVE SAID: THE CHURCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ON EARTH. HE WHO DIVIDES IT HAS SINNED. AND HE WHO IS HAPPY IN ITS DIVISIONS HAS ALSO SINNED. TELL MY CHILDREN, I ASK FROM THEM UNITY. I DO NOT WANT IT FROM THOSE WHO ARE ONLY ACTING; PRETENDING TO WORK FOR UNITY. There is no new theology in these lines, but for some, they might seem new. First of all, the messages say that God, not man, started the Church. The word "ADOPTED" is theologically correct. The Kingdom belonged to the Jews. They were God's children. They fell offthe tree and we were grafted on. We are the adopted Sons of God. The words "ONE CHURCH" means that God did not find more than one Kingdom. To divide this Kingdom is a sin against God, not man. The message makes no mistake about saying that it was divided and it was wrong to do so. This history lesson is necessary for those people who still believe that there are many ways to Heaven and that it doesn't matter what Church you belong to. To be happy in these ================================ 120 The Miracle of Damascus divisions is the same as saying you are content with them. To not work to unite them is the same as being happy with them. To not work for unity is to be sinning. The message makes it clear that those on top, bishops, keep us divided. God, who knows all things, also knows that unity will never come from them, because some of them are only pretending to work for unity. It must come from the little ones, you and me. "Through you I will educate [unite] my generation [the age of the Kingdom of Christ and Mary]." Throughout history there have been many attempts by the bishops, the patriarches, and the pastors to bring about unity, especially in the last thirty years. You will see this clearly in later chapters. There have been meetings and talk, talk, talk, concession, concession, concession, but not one success at unity from the elders. It is no wonder God is angry. We learn (altough we should have already known) that Christ and Mary are wounded in their Hearts by these divisions. A lance pierced Christ's Heart, and we are doing it again. A sword pierced Mary's Heart, and we are doing it again. In Mirna's letter to me she says: "Unity will not be achieved unless we unify our hearts. . .if we love each other as Christ has asked us to do, then His Will be done, and we shall gather all the churches in One Church, called God's One House, and we shall all meet under one roof...God willing." Our Example The little house of Nicolas and Mirna is not a church, but God seems to have set it up as an example of what churches, church life, and church love should be like. When Mary said, "OPEN THE DOORS AND DO NOT DEPRIVE ANYONE FROM SEEING ME," the home became like a little church. Everyday, all day and night, people come to pray. They pray alone, together, they sing, they love. There are rich and there are poor. No one asks about money, and no one cares. No money is ever taken for any reason whatsoever. ================================ Analyzing the Messages 121 I AM NOT ASKING FOR MONEY TO BE GIVEN TO THE CHURCHES, NOR DISTRIBUTED TO THE POOR. I ASK FOR LOVE. THOSE WHO DISTRIBUTE THEIR MONEY TO THE CHURCHES AND THE POOR, BUT DO NOT HAVE LOVE, ARE NOTHING. I SHALL VISIT HOMES MORE OFTEN, BECAUSE THOSE WHO GO TO CHURCH, SOMETIMES THEY DO NOT GO TO PRAY. GIVE. DO NOT DEPRIVE ANYONE WHO ASKS. This message is for Mirna's and Nicol's protection as well as an example to the churches. By not taking any money, they cannot be accused of starting a new religion and receiving what would otherwise go to the church and the poor. But even without the use of money, they are constantly helping the poor, the poor in body and in spirit. Their doors are always open, and people come to pray, not to talk or be seen by others. How many churches do you know that are always open? How many people do you know that go to church simply to pray? In my own parish in the United States, the priests (there are three) do not even live near the church. No one knows where they live. You cannot reach them by phone. You cannot enter the church to pray unless they are there. If you were dying and wanted the Last Rites, you would be out of luck. If priests spent more time in church, the doors could be open more often. Maybe that is too much to expect, but could they at least live there, so that the doors could be open sometlmes. There are many people asking for help, not jusr money, but spiritual help. They are never deprived of this kind of love at the little House of Soufanieh. If I give and make the receiver feel like a beggar, I have no love. If I give and let everyone know how good I am for giving, I have no love. If I give because it is required of me, I have no love. But if I love first, giving is the natural thing to do. Like the mother's love for her children and Christ's love for us, love should be so natural as to be expected. ================================ 122 The Miracle of Damascus I DID NOT COME TO SEPARATE. YOUR MARRIED LIFE SHALL STAY AS IT IS. . . LIVE YOUR LIFE, BUT LIFE SHOULD NOT STOP YOU FROM PRAYING... HOW BEAUTIFUL IS THIS PLACE. IN IT I SHALL BUILD MY KINGDOM AND MY PEACE. . . LOVE ONE ANOTHER AND PRAY WITH FAITH. . . GO ABOUT YOUR LIFE AS A WIFE, MOTHER, SISTER. Mirna is Catholic. Nicolas is Orthodox. She is a Lebanese. He is a Syrian. The Catholics and the Orthodox are fighting each other. The Lebanese and Syrians are fighting each other. But Nicol and Mirna live in perfect harmony with each other. They love, they pray, they believe together. It is from the example of this little family, these two people from divided religions, that unity will come about. We at the bottom, we people, must show the elders how to love each other, how to put away our stupid differences, how to put away our criticisms, how to put away our nationalisms, and simply love each other because we are all God's children. In this house Catholic priests and Orthodox priests pray together. It seems so easy just to love God together. He is one and so should we be. Mirna again will have the last word. "As my husband and I are one body in marriage, attuned together, so we are all one body of Christ, but not all attuned together." Not Like The Elders These messages are not so gentle on priests and bishops as they are on the people. This is also true of many other true apparitions I have studied. It's very understandable too, if you think about it. The priest is Christ's representative on earth. He is supposed to be the image of Christ. When the flock looks at him they should see a Christ-like man. What he does, what he says, what he teaches has great impor- tance to the little ones. ================================ Analyzing the Messages 123 DO NOT BE FRAGMENTED LIKE THE ELDERS. . . WOE TO HIM WHO REPRESENTS MY IMAGE AND SELLS MY BLOOD. . . IT IS EASIER FOR ME THAT AN INFIDEL BELIEVES IN MY NAME THAN THOSE WHO PRETEND TO HAVE FAITH AND LOVE, AND SWEAR BY MY NAME...PRAY FOR THOSE SINNERS WHO FORGIVE SINS IN MY NAME, AND YET, RENOUNCE MY MOTHER . . . I DO NOT WANT IT FROM THOSE WHO PRETEND THEY ARE WORKING FOR UNITY. When you put all this together, you get the feeling God isn't happy. In fact, there seems to be a strong warning here. "Fragmented" we have already talked about, but this disunity isn't just church against church. It is also bishop against bishop, priest against priest within their own churches. Disobedience is a rampant disease among priests and bishops, in spite of their oath (SWEAR BY MY NAME) of obedience. Why do they violate their oath? Power and money! "I don't need to listen to anyone. I am my own boss. I have a brain. I can understand things myself." These are the proud who want to be important, and they cause divisions. Money is another major reason. There is big money in religion, if those who handle it forget that they are the servants of their people. But very often they forget and sell Christ's blood. And, of course, every bishop or pastor in the world says he is working for ecumenism, but not one is willing to give up his seat of power for unity's sake. If only there were people today like Clement of Rome 100 A.D.: "Is there any man of noble mind among you? A man who is compassionate? A man overflowing with love? Then let such a one say, 'If it is I who am the cause of ary disorder, friction, or division among you, I will remove myselœ I will go away, anywhere you wish, and I will do anything the congregation says; only let there be peace between Christ's flock and their appointed clergy.' Anyone ================================ 124 The Miracle of Damascus who does this will earn a great name for himself in Christ, and be sure of a welcome anywhere [for the earth and everything in it is the Lord's]. Men who were truly citizens of Heaven--the citizenship that brings no regrets-- have done such things in the past, and they will still do so today." I hope and pray that is true, for without this kind of love, unity will never be achieved. We must pray for them. We must love them. We must encourage them to do just what St. Clement of Rome hoped for. Mirna again: "As for unity, it can only be achieved through prayer. What God is asking of us is difficult. It won't come unless the big ones give up their seats, their haughtiness, and their greed." It must be noted that Mirna has no idea of how this unity will come about or when. She does know that it must come from the Bishops (big ones) and not the people. We, the people, however, can put on the pressure. Doctrine Is Important Unity would be easy if we just said: "What we believe is not important. Let everyone believe what they want. We can all do our own thing, but do it under one roof." As you can readily see, that wouldn't work. It is not what the gospels teach, and it is not what the messages of Soufanich say. There are many reasons for the splits in the churches, mostly political, but the three biggest doctrinal differences are the CONCEPT OF CHURCH, THE TRINITY and MARY. Regarding Mary, the differences are regarding the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. The arguments on these subjects went on down through the ages. One group said that Christ was not God in his ================================ Analyzing the Messages 125 human form; therefore, Mary was not the Mother of God. Another group said that the Holy Spirit does not proceed from the Father and the Son, but from the Father only. Still another says that we shouldn't pray to Mary or the saints (called the Communion of Saints). Actually many of these opinions grew out of what is known as Iconoclasm. Few today believe in Iconoclasm, for it was mostly a political gimmick. I think the average person in the street would say, "Who cares! These things are not important. God only wants love." If these things were not important, unity would be easy. We could have a united pluralism. But in the messages of the Apparition of Unity, God is very plain about the importance of these faiths. Regarding the TRINITY and MARY, He puts them together. GOD SAVE ME, JESUS ENLIGHTEN ME, THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY LIFE . . .I AM THE BEGINNING AND THE END. I AM THE TRUTH, THE FREEDOM, AND THE PEACE . . .I AM THE CREATOR. I CREATED HER [MARY] TO CREATE ME. REJOICE FOR HEAVEN IS REJOICING BECAUSE THE DAUGHTER OF THE FATHER, THE MOTHER OF GOD, AND THE BRIDE OF THE SPIRIT IS BORN . . . MY DAUGHTER IS MY MOTHER FROM WHOM I WAS BORN. HE WHO HONORS HER HONORS ME. HE WHO DENIES HER DENIES ME. AND HE WHO ASKS FROM HER, RECEIVES, BECAUSE SHE IS MY MOTHER... PRAY FOR THOSE SINNERS WHO FORGIVE SINS IN MY NAME, AND YET, RENOUNCE MY MOTHER. One of the dogmatic reasons for dividing the Kingdom was the idea of the Trinity being only symbolic of God and therefore Mary could not be the Mother of God. Acceptance of Mary as the Mother of God has ramifications. When we admit this, we admit that Christ is God. Unity implies that we all believe in the same God. If we don't know Him (who He is), how can we all believe the same? ================================ 126 The Miracle of Damascus The oil itself was a reason for division. There was great anger between the Eastern and Western Churches because one side was reconfirming with oil people who had already been confirmed. Confirmation is the receiving of the Holy Spirit. One side said only a bishop can give the sacrament, and the other side said priests could. (Today these reasons no longer exist.) One thing both sides agree on is that oil is an outward sign of the Holy Spirit. When Mary said, "Much less than what the Father endured" referring to Christ's Crucifixion, She verifies that Christ and the Father are one and the same in substance, essence, nature, divinity, immensity and eternity. There is only one God, but He has three beings, and they are all equal. The holy chrism, which by apostolic tradition we use in Confirmation and Consecration of Priests and Bishops, is made up of olive oil mixed with balm. Besides representing the Holy Spirit, it represents meekness and humility. Balm, which sinks to the bottom of water, represents humility, and olive oil, which rises to the top of water, symbolizes meekness and mildness. These are the main outward signs of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, but it is truth with gentle love. "I am the truth." Christ is the truth. We must know Him, the Truth, the Word of God, and we must love Him. We must love the Truth. Part of that truth is hidden in the very first apparition. It is a truth that answers many questions of faith (of doctrine). The first apparition had no words because Mirna ran away. It didn't need any words. Maybe it said more than all the words. It happened on the feast day of the Miraculous Medal. Not only did it take place on that day but also on the exact hour. The timing says a great deal. First of all, the Miraculous Medal is an Icon, a thing. Many miracles have happened by its use and continue to this day. It is a great devotion of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. On the back side of the Medal is a Cross and the letter "M" showing the participation of Mary with the Cross and with ================================ Analyzing the Messages 127 Christ, sharing in our redemption. It has the two Hearts of Jesus and Mary showing the inseparable union of the two hearts. This is all surrounded by twelves stars representing the Kingdom, the twelve Apostles, all those who enter the Kingdom. On the front side of the Medal is a picture of Mary. She is standing on the world and the snake with rays pouring out of Her hands. The world is us and She is our Queen. The snake is Satan, and She will crush his head. The rays are graces. Grace is the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary is the dispenser of the grace of God. Think about these things. Mirna's real name is "Mary," symbolically representing the real "Mary." Oil (the Holy Spirit) is pouring out of her hands also. Rays coming out of the picture of Mary on the Medal, and oil from both the Icon and Mirna's hands should be a great lesson. There is a doctrine (not accepted by all) that says all grace comes from God through Mary. Mary is the dispenser of Grace. There is another aspect to the Miraculous Medal that cannot be overlooked. Most of the priests involved in the Miracle of Damascus are Lazarist Priests. St. Vincent's order in 1827 had a problem. It had two vicar generals. Leo XII named Pierre de Wailly sole superior general in 1827. A new chapel was blessed, and St. Vincent's relics were solemnly reiterated in 1830. That same year the Blessed Virgin gave the Miraculous Medal to St. Vincent's Daughters of Charity, in the person of St. Catherine Laboure at nearby Rue du Bac. The message, "My heart will not be consumed for all my children," suggests a shared redemption, and suggests that those outside the Kingdom will not share in Her Love. "My Generation" says we are Her children. "You are my daughter before being theirs," also teaches us all these things. Also the words "salvation has come to be realized," regarding the birth of Mary, implies Her birth started the process of salvation. The words "asks of Her receives" and "do not lose the prayers of those around you," teach us the doctrine of the COMMUNION OF SAINTS. The "Communion of Saints" is the one ================================ 128 The Miracle of Damascus large family of those in Heaven, those on Earth, and those in Purgatory, who share all things in common, all grace, all prayer, all sacrifice. Purgatory was stated in the apparition of March 24, 1983. "Pray for the inhabitants of the Upper sky and Earth." Surrounding the image of Mary on the Miraculous Medal are the words "O MARY, CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN, PRAY FOR US WHO HAVE RECOURSE TO THEE." This, too, was a major cause of the divisions of the Kingdom. Some claimed Mary was freed from Original Sin at the moment Christ entered Her body. Others said she was conceived without sin in order to be a spotless temple of Christ. Those bits of dogma (faith we must believe) are being presented in these messages one after another. On March 24, 1983, the words: "My mission has come to an end, as in this night. . ." means that the main mission of Mary was to say "Yes" to becoming the Mother of God, the Bride of the Holy Spirit. From that time on, God worked in Her. Another bit of knowledge presented in these messages is on September 7, 1985 (the birth of Mary). The Father states that "salvation has come to be realized" in the birth of Mary. The beginning of God's salvation work started at the birth of Mary. This also seems to verify that the feast of Mary's birth, September 8th, is correct. I bring this up since it has been disputed recently. Another belief that stands out in these apparitions is "entrance into the Kingdom." Of course, we all know that belief and baptism are required for membership in the Church. On the other hand, there is another way (not always accepted by everyone): "Baptism of Desire." When Mirna saw the "Beautiful Shining Mountain," she saw the Kingdom. Her strong wish to climb, to belong was symbolic of baptism of desire. When Christ said, "He who seeks Me, I shall imprint in him My image," He was stating the same doctrine. Again Mary appeared at Lourdes and said, "I am the Immaculate Conception." This brings up another question. The Immaculate Conception cannot be learned explicitly from ================================ Analyzing the Messages 129 Scripture. Who, then, has the right to declare it? These are questions. that we, the people, must face because the elders will not. Christ said, "If you do not believe Me, believe the miracles I perform." Miracles are outward signs of the truth of divine revelation. Miracles were used by Elijah to confront the prophets of Baal, by Daniel with the Lions, by Christ and His disciples, and down through the ages by the saints of truth. The words "but not in words only" of November 26, 1987, suggest that faith without works is dead. The same can be said for "bearing of the cross is inevitable. . . for everlasting life deserves these sufferings...etc." The words, "The only most High" regarding Christ in the messages of May 31, 1984, teach us that Christ is equal to the Father in all things, and whatever could be predicated of one of the Persons of the Trinity could be predicated of the others. Regarding "Pray for the inhabitants of the Upper sky and Earth," the best explanation for this is in one of the best selling books of the past ten years, "PURGATORY" by Fr. F.X. Schouppe, SJ. (TAN Books and Publishers, Inc.) Page One of Chapter One: "Let us call to mind that the Holy Church of God, con- sldered as a whole, is composed of three parts: The Church Militant, The Church Triumphant, and the Church Suffering or 'Purgatory.' This triple Church constitutes the mystical body of Jesus Christ, and the souls in Purgatory are no less His' members than are the faithful upon earth and the elect in Heaven. In the Gospel, the Church is ordinarily called the Kingdom of Heaven; now Purgatory, just as the heavenly and terrestrial Church, is a province of this vast kingdom. "The three sister Churches have incessant relations with each other, a continual communication which we call the COMMUNION OF SAINTS. These relations have no other ================================ 130 The Miracle of Damascus object than to conduct souls to eternal glory, the final term to which all the elect tend. The three Churches mutually assist in peopling Heaven, which is the permanent city, the glorious Jerusalem." Doctrine is important: the Communion of Saints, the Mother of God, the Trinity, Purgatory, the Holy Spirit, one Church, the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, all these things are in the messages. For Protestants these will be very diffi- cult, but for Catholics and Orthodox there is not one problem. I say this without reservation. Today there are only three points of Doctrine separating us: the action of the Holy Spirit in the soul, the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son, and the Pope. If both sides would study what Thomas Aquinas taught (and not what Catholic theologians allege he taught), they would find there are no contradictions. Love Them To Unity These divisions would have never happened if it were not for pride. Pride (on both sides of every dispute in history) was a major cause of divisions. If one had just said, "We don't always agree on this or that point, but you are my brother in Christ and I will always love you," divisions would not have come about. This pure lack of humility by our leaders created division. The messages of Soufanieh warn us not to repeat these mistakes. We must love even those who persecute us, even those who laugh at us. There have been many religious wars. Most didn't have to be. Love is the greatest of all swords. If Mother Teresa of Calcutta could only live long enough she would conquer the world. DO GOOD TO EVILDOERS. DO NOT TREAT ANYONE BADLY. . . DO NOT INSULT THE PROUD PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO HUMILITY. THE HUMBLE IS THIRSTY FOR THE REMARKS OF OTHERS TO CORRECT FAULTS. WHEREAS THE CORRUPT AND ARROGANT NEGLECTS, REVOLTS AND BECOMES ================================ Analyzing the Messages 131 HOSTILE . . . FORGIVENESS IS THE PREFERABLE THING . . ENDURE AND FORGIVE . . . LET NOT YOUR PEACE DEPEND ON PEOPLE'S TONGUES, WHETHER GOOD OR BAD, AND CONSIDER YOURSELF LOWLY...HE WHO DOES NOT SEEK SATISFACTION FROM MANKIND, AND DOES NOT FEAR THEIR WRATH, ENJOYS THE TRUE PEACE, AND THAT WILL ONLY BE THROUGH ME . . . LIVE YOUR LIFE JOYFULLY AND INDEPENDENTLY. . . DO NOT HATE ANYONE, OTHERWISE YOUR HEART WILL BE BLINDED TO MY LOVE. LOVE EVERYONE JUST AS YOU HAVE LOVED ME, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO HATE, AND SPREAD RUMORS ABOUT YOU. IT IS THROUGH THEM THAT YOU WILL EARN GLORY. There is a great lesson in these words. The truly humble person cannot be angered by insults or the opinions of others. He doesn't react to compliments. He gives without expecting anything from others. The only thing that matters is his relationship with God. He is so concerned with his love of God, he always welcomes advice (even done badly) to improve himself. The humble is only concerned with other people's feelings, never his own. No one can ever hate the truly humble. Hatred fades away. Love then becomes the sword of the fight for unity. We must love them and love them and love them until they are one. Trust In God We, the children of God, must bring about this unity. How? I have some ideas that I will present, but first we must pray and trust in God's help. Without the power of the Holy Spirit we can do nothing. I saw the power of prayer work in the Philippines. It toppled a government. The people didn't do it. Prayer did it. We must pray, work, and trust in God. DO NOT BE FRIGHTENED. I AM WITH YOU... HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE MY CHILDREN WHEN ================================ 132 The Miracle of Damascus THEY KNEEL AND IMPLORE. DO NOT BE AFRAID. I AM WITH YOU. . .DON'T CHOOSE YOUR OWN PATH, BECAUSE I HAVE ALREADY CHOSEN IT FOR YOU. . . DO NOT SAY: "WHAT SHALL I DO?" BECAUSE THAT IS MY WORK. ADOPT FASTING AND PRAYER. We cannot brmg about umty. For one thousand years peoplc have tried. Canon Lawyers cannot bring about unity in the government of the Church. Theologians cannot bring about unity of faith. But God can AND, He will bring about unity by using us as his servants. We must trust that He can. If we don't believe this, we will not work for it. Trust that God can and will do it, or get out of the way because here I come with Nicol and Mirna and all who trust in God and want to do God's Will. Carry Your Cross We cannot walk this road towards one faith, one religion, and one God without expecting many obstacles. In most cases as soon as we hit our head against the first real wall we will quit. I have learned throughout the years that the Devil is alive and well. If I am doing the right thing "something beautiful for God" as Mother Teresa would say, Satan will be there to try and stop me. If I am doing the wrong thing (or nothing at all), life will be simple. I WAS CRUCIFIED FOR YOUR LOVE'S SAKE. I WANT ALL OF YOU TO ACCEPT AND CARRY YOUR CROSS FOR MY SAKE WITH OBEDIENCE, LOVE, AND PATIENCE, AND AWAIT MY ARRIVAL. FOR HE WHO SHARES IN MY PAIN WILL SHARE IN MY GLORY. THERE IS NO SALVATION FOR THE SOUL EXCEPT THROUGH THE CROSS...THIS IS THE FOUNTAIN FROM WHICH EVERY SOUL SHALL QUENCH ITS THIRST. . . DO NOT BE TROUBLED BY EARTHLY THINGS, BECAUSE THROUGH MY WOUNDS YOU SHALL EARN ================================ Analyzing the Messages 133 EVERLASTING LIFE. AND KNOW THAT THE BEAR- ING OF THE CROSS IS INEVITABLE. Nicol and Mirna have many crosses to bear. Four times already Mirna suffered the stigmata. Each time it gets worse. This last time (Easter 1990) she had 3 wounds in her head from the crown of thorns. She may have to suffer the wounds of Christ for this unity until it comes to pass. If she does, Nicol will suffer with her. Shall we leave it all up to them to carry the price of unity? I think God is warning us that we will not find this easy, but we must go on because we must trust that He is there carrying the cross with us. Do not look for crosses, but when they come, accept them with joy. Teach My Generation The words "My generation" confused me at first. Thanks be to God, I have over the years been very dedicated to Mary, and I have studied a great deal. One thing I have learned is that this is the age of Mary. Not only that, but the age of Mary (Herfinal battle with Satan--the crushing of his head), started with the "Miraculous Medal," the same day of the start of the apparitions of Soufanich. This is also the age of Christ. In Scripture when Christ says, "This generation will not pass away. . .etc.," He is speaking of the sixth and final age of mankind. History is divided into seven days, or ages, the last being the day of rest, or eternity in Heaven. We are living in the sixth or last day or last generation of mankind, known as the age of Christ's Kingdom, or His Generation. Mary and Christ are inseparable, and therefore, it is also the generation of Mary. THROUGH YOU I WILL CONSTRUCT MY GENERATION... THROUGH YOU I WILL EDUCATE MY GENERATION...I WANT YOU TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR MISSION, BECAUSE YOU CANNOT ENTER HEAVEN UNLESS YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED ================================ 134 The Miracle of Damascus YOUR MISSION ON EARTH . . . MY PEACE, WHICH IS IN YOUR HEART, SHALL BE A BLESSING TO YOU AND TO THOSE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED WITH YOU. . . PRAY. "MAY YOU COME TO ME AND RELIEVE ME, AND RELEASE MY CHAINS, AND GRANT ME FREEDOM BECAUSE WITHOUT YOU MY JOY IS NOT COMPLETE. WITHOUT YOU MY TABLE IS EMPTY. THEN I SHALL COME TO SAY 'HERE I COME, BECAUSE YOU HAVE CALLED ME. . .' FORGIVENESS IS THE MOST PREFERABLE THING." Nicol and Mirna have a mission on earth. God is asking that she completes it before she can leave it. This mission is to educate the world about unity. He is asking us to help her. You don't have to see or know her to help her. All you have to do is work for UNITY in your own way. In this way you will have contributed to her, and God will bless you for it. I'm sure all who have worked for unity in the past (even before Mirna was born) have been greatly rewarded by God. But it has been mostly the elders who have tried and those who have tried have failed. Now, we, the people, must help them. We must educate the elders (without being disobedient to them) that we want unity, that we demand unity, that we demand it of them. So say to God, "Here I come." Say to the elders, "Here we come, the people of God. We are the Church, and we demand unity. We do not want to know who is at fault. We want to forgive." Give To God Mirna said to me, "God sacrificed His life on the Cross for our sake, while we only love Him when He gives us what we ask of Him. . .peace can only be through the one Christ. We must, therefore, pray with insistence to put peace in our hearts and to remove hatred and selfishness from the hearts of His children, who are only His when in need and ================================ Analyzing the Messages 135 who sell Him off when He needs them." What can I add to that except God's own words? GIVE, DO NOT DEPRIVE ANYONE WHO ASKS FOR HELP...MY PEACE I GAVE TO YOU, BUT YOU, WHM HAVE YOU GIVEN ME?. . . I GIVE YOU ALL MY TIME. GIVE ME A PART OF YOURS...PRAY, PRAY, PRAY. . .MY FEAST IS WHEN I SEE ALL OF YOU GATHERED TOGETHER. YOUR PRAYER IS MY FEAST. YOUR FAITH IS MY FEAST. THE UNITY OF YOUR HEARTS IS MY FEAST. . . GO IN PEACE AND TELL MY CHILDREN TO COME TO ME AT ALL TIMES . . . IS EVERYTHING YOU DO FOR LOVE OF ME?. . . PRAY FOR THOSE WHO FORGOT THE PROMISE THEY MADE TO ME. BECAUSE, THEY WILL SAY: "WHY DIDN'T I FEEL YOUR PRESENCE, LORD, WHEN YOU WERE WITH ME.". . . ALL WANT IS TO GATHER TOGETHER ALL OF YOU IN ME AS I AM IN EACH ONE OF YOU. This passage about "I didn't feel your presence" is very special to me. I have been fighting against some cults for years who think they are filled with the Holy Spirit because they "feel it." The fruits of the Holy Spirit are very evident in the House of Soufanieh, and I never saw anyone get carried away in any sensualism. If we would stop thinking about what God can do for us and start thinking about what we can do for Him and His creatures. we would find true joy in life and in the life hereafter. We would see how sweet is patience when compared with revenge, meekness compared with anger and vexation, humility compared with arrogance and ambition, liberality compared with avarice, charity compared with envy, sobriety compared with dissipation. This is joy. Regarding what people usually pray for? Think about it. He knows better than we do what we need before we ask. We should not only trust that He will take care of us, but trust that He will do it better than we could even imagine to ask. ================================ 136 The Miracle of Damascus Those (who want to "feel" God) had better be careful, for all the saints say that when we look for the miraculous, we find Satan, pretending to be an Angel of Light. Listen to the words of Padre Pio: "You are mistaken, greatly mistaken, when you want to measure the soul's love for its Creator by the delightful feelings it experiences in loving God. This kind of love belongs to those who are still spiritually immature, and it could prove fatal to a soul that abandons itself too fully to it. On the other hand, the love of those who have left this spiritual infancy behind them is a love which experiences neither taste nor delight in what is called the sensitive part of the soul. "We have a sure sign that these people really love God when we observe their readiness to keep God's holy law; their constant watchfulness so that they may not fall into sin; their habitual desire to see the heavenly Father glorified, while losing no chance to spread the KINGDOM OF GOD as far as lies in their power; when we see them pray- ing continually to God the Father in the same words of our divine Master: Our Father. . . Thy Kingdom come." (Padre Pio) Or Else This little message, "OR ELSE," probably does not mean much to anyone but me. I am sure Mirna, in her simplicity, takes it very personal and only meant for her. I see it much differently. I have just finished a book on prophecy. I com- pared over 104 approved prophecies about a coming chastisement. In all of these messages the same theme was put forth. There will come a chastisement (by God) in order to bring about ONE FAITH ON EARTH, ONE KINGDOM ON EARTH, THY KINGDOM COME. I think of this miracle as one last chance to avert this chastisement. Some say that 75% of the world will die. The messages of Mirna must be given this last chance to prevent it. ================================ Analyzing the Messages 137 GO AND PREACH TO THE WORLD AND TELL THEM WITHOUT FEAR, THAT THEY HAVE TO WORK FOR UNITY. . . GO FORTH AND ANNOUNCE THIS MESSAGE...WHEREVER YOU GO I WILL BE WITH YOU. . . HE WHO ANNOUNCED MY SON, EMMANUEL, IS SAVED. HE WHO DOES NOT, HIS FAITH IS IN VAIN. . .YOU SHOULD SPEAK AT THE TOP OF YOUR VOICE THE WORD OF TRUTH ABOUT YOUR CREATOR SO MY POWER WILL BE SEEN IN YOU. As Mirna suffered the agony of the crucified Christ, she said these words as she watched Christ be Crucified: "We are playing a comedy between each other. . . He is patient toward us...He wants to unify us by His Will . . . He can make it over our head. . .but He wants it to come from us." "Announce" means to teach. Teach Christ. The gospel is the truth of Christ. If we don't teach the truth of Christ, (at least by example) our faith is in vain. If we just stay at home our faith is in vain. If we teach a false Christ, our faith is in vain. If we don't, God will. If God does, we will not like it. All the messages since 1988 have become more urgent. ================================ CHAPTER 5 History of Divisions There have always been those who have tried to divide the Kingdom of God, in spite of Christ's prayer: "that they also may be sanctified in TRUTH. Yet not for these only do I pray, but for those also who through their word are to believe in me, that ALL MAY BE ONE . . . that they may be perfected in UNITY, and that THE WORLD MAY KNOW that You have sent me..." Without these divisions we, as one mind and one faith, would have already converted the world. These divisions came about in two ways: by teaching a different Christ than the Apostles taught, a false Christ, a false Word of God; and by not showing love for each other. Almost all the false Christs of the first 200 years were con- cerning the understanding of the Trinity of God. These false teachings were even at the time of the Apostles. The Apostles did not take lightly a teaching that was not exactly as they taught. You would think that slight differences wouldn't be a big thing, but this wasn't the case. This understanding of the Trinity was not easy. Unity of faith demanded that all believe the same, especially regarding God, Himself. The second major reason for divisions was not showing compassion and love, which is forgiveness and understand- ing. Love comes from humility, which places all others' feel- ings before your own. You must hate error but love those who err. If the two sides of the divisions had only looked at their own mistakes, divisions would have faded away. My personal belief is that unity will never be achieved unless we forget the past. Therefore, I am hardpressed not even to mention the mistakes of the past. However, I recognize 138 ================================ History of Divisions 139 that most people, whether Catholics or Orthodox, don't know (or care about) the reasons for divisions. All they know is that they are Catholic or Orthodox because their fathers were. It may seem prudent to forget the reasons. I have decided not to forget them for this one last time. Let me explain why. As you, the people, work towards unity, this Catholic or that Orthodox or this Protestant will say, "But they did this" or "They did that." It will be better if we, the people, can say, "Yes, I know, and I don't care. Those were the mistakes of our fathers, not ours." If we don't know the mistakes of our fathers, they will come up sooner or later. I don't want us to be surprised, and I don't want us to make the same mistakes. The great thing about history is to learn from the mistakes. If we don't learn, we will repeat them. So let us look at these mistakes of our fathers for the last time, and then forget them. There is plenty of blame to go around. As we look at it, let us remember the Lord's prayer, "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Divisions are from pride and power. Power is the goal of the divider. A priest or a bishop has a new idea. The idea itself isn't so important as the pride that goes with it. People admire the man's idea, his head gets puffed up, he defends it against his superiors, and finally he breaks his oath of obedience. He becomes his own judge in the matter because he doesn't want to be told he is wrong. It is pride, pride and power. Of course, he needs political support for the power. And so most all divisions end up political or national in origin. Political in that whenever a King or an Emperor gained enough power he decided he should have control over the spiritual lives of people as well as the physical. National because people of different backgrounds and lan- guages wanted local control over their churches. Communication wasn't so good in those days anyway. Sometimes ================================ 140 The Miracle of Damascus disputes took years to resolve. Nationalism became more of a religion than the Church. People started to think of themselves as Italian or Greek before being Christian. This nationalistic spirit gave power to political leaders, power over the souls of people as well as the body. If you want to see if you are in a truly Universal Church, look around the next time you are there. Do you see Chinese, Philippinos, Africans, Spaniards, Greeks, Italians all praying together? If not, why not? If you are more concerned with what color your future son-in-law is than what faith he has, you are not Christian. Dividing the Faith Paul constantly had this problem as he went about teaching the Word. He warned the bishops, "and from among your own selves men will rise speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them." Every person who taught different from the Apostles, he condemned. He condemned the teachings of Demetrius, Phigelus, Hermogenes, Hymeneus, Philetus and Alexander. And these people were Christians. He warned us to avoid those who opposed the teaching of the Apostles. (2 Tim. 4:15). The Apostles had to call together the first Council of Jerusalem to condemn Judaizers, who taught that Christians had to obey the Mosaic Law. This was only the first of many who taught a different Christ or Word of God. Then came Gnosticism, the secret knowledge principle; Modalism, a denial of the Trinity; Marcionism, a denial of the Old Testament; Montanism, a denial of the divine nature of the Church; Novatianism, a denial of confession after baptism; Subordinationism; Arianism; Macedonianism; Nestorianism; Monophysitism; Mono- thelitism; Donatism; and Pelagianism; all these in the first four hundred years of the Kingdom. They were all put down and condemned. They faded away, but parts of these ideas still exist today. Many of the new splits, new ideas, new faiths are nothing but repeats of these old ideas that were put to rest in the first years of the Kingdom. ================================ History of Divisions 141 If people would study the early Church (most of these writings still exist), the mistakes of the past would not repeat themselves. Some divislons were not a matter of faith but of Church discipline: fasting or not fasting, marriage or not marriage, beards or no beards, etc. These disciplines in themselves aren't important, but the breakdown of authority in these matters is important. When disobedience in small things is allowed, it will grow to larger things. Iconoclasm The real lasting splits came with political power and not from the religious leaders themselves. Mohammed came into the world and tied his religion to government law. His was a religion of the state, a religion by force. Leo the Isaurian became Emperor of the East. Driven by the taunts of the Moslems, who accused the Christians of being idolaters for having images, he made up his mind that it was wrong to have statues and pictures in the Church. First he ordered the Pope to have the images placed very high so that they would be out of the reach of the faithful. The Pope refused to obey him. Leo ordered the Synod of Hieria in 754, which issued a decree forbidding the veneration of images, relics, and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He ordered that all images be destroyed. During these perse- cutions, Leo took the lands of Sicily, South Italy and the Balkans from the Roman Emperor. The Holy See at Rome condemned him; the people rose up in rebellion, and there were riots everywhere when the images were destroyed. John of Damascus came to the defense of the veneration of images. The Iconoclasts were excommunicated by a council at Rome and at the Council of Nicaea II in 787 A.D. under the leadership of Patriarch Tarasius. The Council of Nicaea clarified the theology of the Blessed Virgin, the saints and Icons. Rome was happy, but wanted the Balkans returned. Constantinople was happy and never mentioned the Balkans. ================================ 142 The Miracle of Damascus The Monarch However, the Emperors who followed Leo continued to attack the veneration of images. They persecuted those who opposed them, demolished monasteries, destroyed libraries, and resorted to every form of violence. The Pope, unable to control the Eastern Monarch, declared Pepin the Holy Roman Emperor. From then on the East would be at odds with the West for Political power of the Empire. This, more than the Icons, made a lasting division. As a result of the opposition of the Pope to the Emperor, the Eastern Church (which had become more and more a state church) had become further separated from the Western Church. Other reasons were language (the East used Greek and the West used Latin) and the Pope's alliance with the Frankish Emperor, Pepin, and then Charlemagne. Constantinople was the most powerful city in the world, and yet, the Pope made another man Holy Roman Emperor. To make matters worse, Ignatius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, upbraided the Eastern Emperor for his deeds of violence and his unworthy life and refused him Holy Communion. Angered, the Emperor exiled Ignatius and put Photius in his place. Photius went from a layman to a bishop in one day. He was consecrated bishop by a suspended bishop, Gregory Asbestas. Photius charged that the Church of Rome was spreading false doctrines among the Bulgarians. What he called false doctrines (fasts of Saturday, shortening Lent by one week, allowing people to drink milk on fast day, and forbidding priests to marry) were really Church practices, not doctrine. One of Photius' charges was doctrine, however. He charged Rome with teaching the false doctrine of "Filioque," that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and not from the Father only. ================================ History of Dfvisions 143 Mistakes of Rome All this would have come to nothing in the long run, but Rome made a bad mistake. In 880 A.D., Pope John VIII, in order to appease the Eastern Church, recognized the consecration of Photius as bishop. This almost destroyed those who had resisted the Emperor and who had so many friends and relatives who died for their faith. This was the start of the drift away from the Pope of Rome. All this came to nothing in the end. Photius was excommunicated and died in exile in 891 A.D. In 899 a Synod of Union was signed by Rome and Patriarch Anthony II Cauleas. This would have been the end of the division, except Rome made another major mistake. In 913 Emperor Leo took his mistress, Zoe, as his fourth wife and had a son. Patriarch Nicholas I Mysticus baptized the infant with the condition that Leo and Zoe separate at once. However, Leo crowned her queen, and they were married by a priest. Nicholas forbade them the Sacraments. Leo appealed to Rome. Pope Sergius III stated that a fourth marriage was against Byzantine Canon Law and propriety; however, the dispensation was granted out of consideration for the good of the state. From then on the Orthodox of the East lost all respect for Rome, especially amongst the people. To make matters worse in the relation between the Pope and the people of the East, Emperor Romanus requested that his 16 year old son, Theophylactus, be made patriarch of Constantinople. Believe it or not, the Pope allowed this, over much opposition in the East. This incident was the final break between the people of the East and the Roman Pontiff. After this incident, any excuse to make a break would have been okay with the people. Within the next 75 years, the excuse came. ================================ 144 The Miracle of Damascus The Bulgarian Question In 1054, Leo, the Byzantine Archbishop of Bulgaria, wrote to Rome and stated that only Constantinople had the true faith and the true sacrifice of the altar (because Rome used unleavened bread) and that being Orthodox was equivalent to being infallible. Patriarch Michael Cerularius repeated the old charges of Photius against the Roman Church. He closed all the Latin churches in Constantinople and desecrated all the hosts in the tabernacles to demonstrate that they were invalidly consecrated. The Pope sent Cardinal Humbert to Constantinople to negotiate with the Patriarch. Cerularius refused to meet them, except in the patriarchal place surrounded by the synod. Humbert laid a document of excommunication on the high altar of Hagia Sophia. Michael Cerularius excommunicated the Pope, and the final break came, and there has been no reunion to this day. In 1176 Emperor Manuel Comnenus tried to get the primacy of the pope acknowledged again, but Patriarch Michael III of Anchialus replied that "it was impossible to have communion with heretics. The primacy had been lost to Rome when the pope had become a heretic [Filoque!] and had been transferred to Constantinople; the pope is nothing but a layman." The First Crusade Then came the Crusades. Peter the Hermit looted his way across Europe and the East. Bohemund seized Antioch and established the Normans (the deadliest enemies of the Byzantines) as rulers. In the second and third crusades, the Venicians took Hagia Sophia and the patriarchate. A Roman was put in the place of the Greek Patriarch. This angered the Byzantines even more. In the fourth crusade, Constantinople was sacked. A decree went out that only Latin rite bishops would be consecrated ================================ History of Divisions 145 in the future. The Byzantine hierarchy would be doomed to die out at the end of the generation. This made no new friends with Rome. The Byzantines negotiated with Rome, and Pope Innocent III sent a new legate, Cardinal Pelagius, to Constantinople in 1212. Instead of negotiating as the Pope wanted, Pelagius persecuted, menaced and imprisoned those who refused an oath of obedience. As you can see by this review of history, there are no innocent parties. The Council of Lyons In 1244 Patriarch Manuel II suggested a compromise formula: "The Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father through the Son," instead of "and the Son." This was acceptable to the Latins. He won over the Greek Church. He made the following compromise: If the Pope yielded the throne of Constantinople to the Greek emperor and its see to the Greek patriarch, the Greek Church would acknowledge the primacy by restoring his name to the diptyches and would take the oath of canonical obedience. Innocent accepted these terms and also consented to a general council on Greek territory to ratify the agreement. But all the principal personalities died--Innocent IV, John III Vatatzes, and Patriarch Manuel. John's successor, Theodore II Lascaris, rejected the whole plan and it died. In 1274 Patriarch John XI Beccus converted to the Latin position on "through the Son" and a new Council was called in Lyons. Union was sealed between the two churches on July 6, 1274. This would have been the end of the split, but Michael VIII blinded the legitimate ruler, John IV Lascaris. Patriarch Arsenius Autorianus rightfully excommunicated him. Michael VIII was a main figure in the Union of 1274, and his excommunication was disastrous, but Pope Martin IV could do nothing else but follow the Patriarch in his excommunication for it was the proper thing to do. The Pope excommunicated him also. The Union of Lyons died. ================================ 146 The Miracle of Damascus The Council of Florence In 1369 a new opportunity came with the conversion of Byzantine Emperor, John V Palaeologus. Gregory XI, a true friend of the Greeks, made a ringing appeal to Europe to come to the aid of Orthodox people against the Turks. His plea fell on deaf ears. The Byzantine people became convinced that even if they changed their religion they would get no effective military help from the West. Had the West helped the East at this point, the division would have been over. They did not. In 1448 John VIII Palaeologus and Pope Eugene IV met at the Council of Florence. Agreement was reached on filioque, azymes, purgatory, the enjoyment of the beatific vision, the primacy, and the order of the patriarches, Constantinople being named second after Rome. Almost everyone signed the agreement. Patriarch Joseph II died before the end of the Council, but his dying statement helped a great deal. On the night of his death he left a note professing his faith in the filioque, purgatory and the primacy of the pope. Upon their return to Constantinople, many of the prelates, who had agreed to the union, revoked their assent due to the hostile atmosphere of the people. Nevertheless, it was proclaimed in Hagia Sophia on Dec. 12, 1452. But six months later, on May 29, 1453, Constantinople fell to Mohammed, the Conqueror. The West did not come to their aid. Communism Again when the Catholic world of France, Italy, Spain, South America, etc., and the Protestant world of Germany, England and America had the opportunity to show their Christian love by protecting Eastern Europe from the anti-Christian Communists, they turned their backs. When we face the final judgment (Matt. 25), what will Christ say? What will we say? "They were not my problem, not my nationality." Only one man stood up for all Eastern Christians, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant, and he was Charies von Habsburg. How ================================ History of Divisions . 147 was he rewarded by us good Catholics? We jailed him on an island and starved him to death. Now, we want the Orthodox people to love us. Well! They will, because Christ commanded them to love even those who persecute them. They will love me, even though I turned my back on them. Now, it's my turn to make it up to them. We have faced up to the faults on both sides of the question. We have seen that a lack of love prevailed on both sides. We have seen vacillation of faith. Now let us give all these hatreds a good and final burial. Say a good prayer over them and forgive and forget the mistakes of the past. Let us hold hands and pray together as one. Church-State Religion There is one other mistake the Kingdom has made in the past and still makes today that we must face in order to not repeat them. That is the idea of a Kingdom of God composed of a union of Church and State. The Empire which Charlemagne dreamed would have had to be universal and include all the peoples of the world. But no king has ever been strong enough or good enough after Charlemagne. Every King and every Emperor since him has tried to become a part of the Church. If he didn't get his way, he fought the Church. Probably nothing the Church ever did in history caused more damage to unity than her acceptance of State control or pressure in Church matters. Maybe because of the state controlled Moslems, or maybe because she felt she needed a sword against outside enemies. I don't know. But from the time of Photius in 890 A.D. until Martin Luther, both the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches became entangled in State controls. The Emperors of the West, particularly if they were strong men, were unwilling to admit that their authority came from the Church, and they were anxious to establish a system like that which had existed in the East under the Emperor of Constantinople where the Emperor controlled the Church. 148 The Miracle of Damascus The result was years of conflict between the Western Church and the Emperors. No one questioned the authority of the Church in spiritual affairs. The point at issue was how much authority the Church had in temporal affairs, and how much authority the Emperor had in Church affairs. These battles went on for hundreds of years. Many a bad bishop was put in power simply to appease some King or to gain the King's favor. The East and the West were equally at fault. And as kingdoms became smaller and smaller and developed into nations, this became a bigger and bigger problem because there were more and more Kings to appease. The Decree of Union signed between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches is an example of Church-State problems. The Turks were threatening Constantinople and soon the West. They needed a united kingdom. But the Patriarch of Constantinople died in Rome. The Emperor of Constantinople refused to tell the people of the union. Constantinople fell to the Turks, and they appointed their own Patriarch. Rome wouldn't admit it at the time, but they needed Constantinople. They would find out later as the Turks moved west. Something was saved out of the wreckage of this Decree of Union, though. Many of the Slavonic Catholics who belonged to the Greek rite accepted the Decree, and some union began. This battle of Church and State exists today more than ever before, both in the East and the West. In the East no Patriarch in Russia can exist without the approval of the State. In Constantinople no Patriarch can be appointed without the approval of the Moslem government. It is a remarkable gift of the Holy Spirit that in spite of these handicaps very good Patriarches have emerged. They play the game of existence and have done a remarkable job. In the West it is even worse. The law of the State has become the moral absolute instead of the law of God. The law of the State has become the primary teacher. Whatever is legal is assumed to be morally good. Abortion and homosexuality are legal in many countries, and therefore assumed to be moral. The philosophy of prag- ================================ History of Divisions 149 matism (good is whatever works) has replaced the law of God. People who were once loyal to their Church are now loyal to their party, the party of their fathers, no matter what the party stands for. The poor bishops are so overwhelmed by this outside pressure from the State, the Television, the Press, that sometimes they fall back into being administrators instead of the teachers they were called to be. They give over their teaching office to the so-called professional. Theologians in many areas have taken over the role as teachers instead of the quiet realm of research they were called to do. Since they do not have the guidance of the Holy Spirit (except in few cases), the Western sheep have no idea what the teachings of the Church is anymore. The Western Catholics don't know whom to believe--the State, the theologian, the traditionalists, the psychologist, or the Magistrate. Often they fall back on themselves and become their own teacher of the law of God. Hence, we have disunity within the different Churches, disunity in disunity. As you can see, the union of Church and State caused and still causes problems in both the East and the West. A precedent was set in the East by Kings appointing Bishops, and in the West by Popes appointing Kings. The Western Church became so closely associated with the Kings of the past that the people looked upon her as an enemy of liberty. They were afraid to allow her to have anything to say in matters of secular government. They preached the doctrine of "separation of Church and State" by which they meant that the State was supreme and that the Church had no rights except those which the government was inclined to give her. In the name of liberty, all respect for authority would disappear. The mistake in the West was being closely lined up with the Kings, and this would be the cause of the future State Religions. The East was already splitting into many ethnic or national religions, since they were already controlled by the governments. This atmosphere shaped the minds of people ================================ 150 The Miracle of Damascus like John Wickliff, who held that religion should be subject to the temporal government. Religion became mixed up with nationality, and Kings claimed the right to rule the consciences of their people. Nationalism has done more to divide the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth than anything else. Nationalism isn't patriotism. It isn't that feeling of kinship that we all feel for those who live in the same country with us, speak the same language, sing the same songs, and love the same literature and art. It is something beyond all this. It is that kind of loyalty to our nation which would make us think that our nation is better than any other. Nationalism demands that the citizens obey their government in everything and never question its authority. It gives the State the right to control everything--religion, education, charity, and even business and finance. It builds high tariff walls around the country and interferes with the freedom of international trade. It is suspicious of every other nation and spends great sums of money on standing armies and navys, and is always preparing for war. It is along these national lines that most divisions of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth have come. Martin Luther Everywhere and in every age people came along who felt they knew the truth more than the Fathers of the Kingdom. Berengarianism popped up and was condemned; then came Waldensinsism, and Albigensanism. The fight against Kings, who were constantly trying to take control of the Kingdom, was a never ending battle. Wycliff was condemned. Hus was declared a heretic. Then came Martin Luther. Had there not already been a division in the Kingdom, new and lasting divisions would never have come. Luther had a new "ism" just like all the other "isms," but a precedent had been shown, and he would get the support of the state, just as the East had done. ================================ History of Divisions 151 There was good reason for a reform, which came to be known as the "Reformation." Alexander VI, who is generally conceded to be the worst pope in history, was Pope in Luther's time. The bishops of Rome had spent 65 years in Avignon. To support the luxuries of the Church taxes were imposed. Relatives to popes and bishops were placed in high positions without merit. Ecclesiastical positions were sold. Bishops lived like lords instead of spiritual leaders. The clergy, in many cases, lost all ideals of celibacy and exacted large sums of money for their services. The sacrament of extreme unction became the sacrament of the rich, too expensive for the dying poor. (SELL MY BLOOD) The upper clergy was composed largely of the sons of royalty. Monasteries became wealthy and lax. The laity were filled with infidelity, illegitimacy and superstition. Luther came into this world trying to be good by his own will and merit without the help of grace. He could not. He decided that man could not be good, and that it didn't matter. He developed the idea of "justification by faith alone." It became the key to interpreting the rest of the Bible. Any parts of the Bible that didn't agree with this was "straw." He decided that the Ten Commandments were given by God to humble man and that man could not keep them and wasn't meant to keep them. He rebelled against the Church and got many Kings and Princes to follow him. His new religion became a state religion in many parts of Europe. This opened the door. From his ideas would come new ideas, and in his own lifetime many new religions would pop up from his own. In 1517 Luther nailed his 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg. 200 years later in 1717 Freemasonry was born in England. 200 years later in 1917 Communism was born in Russia and Our Lady appeared at Fatima. In the same year, 1531 A.D., that Luther was dividing the Kingdom in Europe, Our Lady of Guadalupe was uniting the Kingdom in the New Americas. See the pattern? ================================ 152 The Miracle of Damascus King Henry VIII King Henry VIII of England defended the Church against Luther. He fought every attempt of the new protestors from entering England. He gained from the Pope the title of "Defender of the Faith." He was the Pope's friend, and now he needed a favor. He asked the Pope for an annulment to his marriage, and he had most of the bishops of England on his side pleading his case. The Pope refused. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, vook it upon himself to declare the marriage invalid against the rule of the Pope. Henry announced himself to be the head of the Church in England. All the English bishops except one, John Fisher, bowed to the King's decree. Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor, lost his head by refusing to go along with the King. A new state religion was born. The King was Pope. These four people, right or wrong, Mohammed, Photius, Luther and King Henry VIII, all got their support from the state and had become state-controlled religions. From these religions have come six hundred more religions. Divisions Among the Divided lslam, called Moslems, Muslims, Mohammedans, split into two religions the day Mohammed died and has since divided many more times. Amongst the Greek religions, splits came mostly for geographical and political reasons. Amongst the Romans, it was mostly a power struggle. The Protestants had no theological authority, so they split on theological grounds. Today in the Eastern Churches we have Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, African Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Ser- bian Orthodox, Rumanian Orthodox, Bulgarian Orthodox, Katholikates, Ukrainian Byzantines, Armenian Apostolics, Armenians, Coptics, Ethiopians (Abyssinians), Jacobites and Assyrians (Nestorians). There are also different Catholic rites. We have the Alexan- drian Rites: the Copts, the Ethiopians; the Antiochene Rites; ================================ History of Divisions 153 the Malankarese, the Maronites, the Syrians; the Armenian Rite; the Byzantine Rites, the Albanians, the Bulgarians, the Byelorussians, Georgiaus, Greeks, Hungarians, Italo-Albanians, Melkites, Romanians, Russians, Rutheneans, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Yugoslavians, Serbians, Croatians; the Chaldean Rites: Chaldeans and Syro-Malabarese. All of these Christian Churches have either different dogmas (beliefs) or different Canon Laws (Church rules and regulations). In the Western Churches we now have Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Lutheran Church of America, Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod, American Lutheran Church, Evangelical Lutheran Churches, Apostolic Lutheran Church, Church of the Lutheran Confession, Evangelical Lutheran Synod, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran, Free Lutheran, Latvian Evangelical, Presbyterians, United Presbyterians, Cumberland Presbyterians, Reformed Presbyterians, World Alliance of Reformed Churches, Puritans, Second Cumberland Church, Orthodox Presbyterian, Huguenots, Separationists, Episcopalians, Reformed Episcopals, Philippine Independents, Church of Sweden, Diocese of the Holy Trinity, Methodists, Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Protestant Church, Methodist Episcopal Church-South, United Methodist Church, Wesleyan, Evangelical United Brethren Church, United Brethren in Christ, African Methodist Episcopal Church, Christian Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Free Methodist, Wesleyan Church, Baptists, American Baptists, Southern Baptists, National Baptists, Anabaptists, General Association of Regular Baptists, Free-Will Baptists, United Free-Will Baptists, Baptist Missionary Association of America, Primitive Baptists, Progressive National Baptists, Separate Baptists, Bible Way Churches of Our Lord Jesus, Disciples of Christ, Church of Christ, Christian Church, Church of God, Church of God in Christ, Church of God and Saints of Christ, Church of God of Prophecy, Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith, Church of the Nazarene, Churches of Christ in Christian Union, Church of the Living God, Community Churchesz Congregational, ================================ 154 The Miracle of Damascus Conservative Congregational Christian, Coptic Orthodox, Evangelical Friends, Friends United Meeting, Friends General Conference, Grace Brethren, Independent Fundamental, International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, Jehovahs Witnesses, Jewish Congregations, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, General Conference Mennonites, Mennonite Brethren, Mennonite Church, Old Order Amish, Old Order Wisler Mennonite, Moravian Church, Unity of the Brethren, National Spiritualist Association of Churches, New Apostolic Church of N.A., North American Old Roman Catholic, Elim Fellowship, International Pentecostal Assemblies, Pentecostal Church of God, Pentecostal Free Will Baptist, Pentecostal Holiness, United Pentecostal, Plymouth Brethren, Polish National Catholic, Unitarian Universalist, United Brethren in Christ, United Church of Christ, United Holy Church of America, Volunteers of America, Pius X Society, and over 20 more not listed because they have a membership under 25,000. Many of these Churches divided not from theological reasons but from ethnic or nationalistic reasons. Paul warned against this as being against the unity of Christ. "Here there is not Gentile and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, Barbarian and Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all things and in all." (Col. 3:11). Today these divisions maintain themselves by suppressing information. No one in one Church is permitted to read the information given out by another Church. Free information of religion was once tried at Oxford, and they lost so many students and teachers that it was never tried again. Christian bookstores will not carry Catholic or Orthodox books. Catholic bookstores will not carry Protestant or Orthodox books. Orthodox bookstores will not carry Catholic or Protestant books. What are we afraid of? The truth? These are our brothers ================================ History of Divisions 155 and sisters in Christ. Let us learn from each other. Let us share and share and share until the light outshines the darkness. "If, therefore, there is any comfort in Christ, any encouragement from charity, any fellowship in the Spirit, any feelings of mercy, fill up my joy by THINKING ALIKE, having the same charity, with ONE SOUL AND ONE MIND." (Phil. 2:1-2). "JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME, YESTERDAY AND TODAY, YES, AND FOREVER. DO NOT BE LED AWAY BY VARIOUS AND STRANGE DOCTRINES...HAVE HAVE AN ALTAR, FROM WHICH THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO EAT. . ." (Heb. 13:8-10). One Christ, one altar, one faith, one doctrine, always the same now and forever. Come on Christians, think! Put yourselves in Christ's mind. What must He be thinking? ================================ CHAPTER 6 Attempts at Unity The first attempt at unity came at the Council of Clermont in 1095. The Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus I asked . for Western assistance to drive out the Moslem Seljuk Turks from his land. Pope Urban II truly hoped to help him and thereby create a common effort between East and West that would bring back the dream of unity. Failures Instead of helping the Eastern Empire, the crusaders of the West sacked Constantinople and the Church of Holy Wisdom in 1204 and further estranged the Byzantines from Rome. This was a mistake that is rightfully very hard for Easterners to forget. These were fellow Christians, although separated, who had the same Jesus Christ. Pope Urban's dream to free the Holy Land deepened the split. There was an invitation to unity at the Lateran Council of 1215, but it was preceded with the uncharitable reminder of the faults of the East without mentioning the faults of the West. True love would have been to admit Rome's faults and to have not mentioned the others. Nonetheless, something good did come out of the Lateran Council. Rome admitted and renewed the ancient privileges of the patriarchal sees, invited them to return to unity without changing their customs and rites. There were other attempts at unity at the Councils of Lyons in 1274 and of Florence in 1438, but the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 broke up the Orthodox Church into several fragmentary, national, and autonomous churches. There now became many Orthodox elders to deal with. To 156 ================================ Attempts at Untty 157 make things worse, the Western Church split in 1530 into many fragmentary Churches. There were short-lived successes between Rome and England in those early years, but when unity is not done with love, forgiveness, and forgetfulness, it never lasts. Unity happens when one Church unites with another Church and teaches one doctrine. Their methods of teaching and worshipping need not be the same. The Oriental Churches (Greek or Eastern Rite Churches) have at times joined the Western Church (Roman or Latin) and at the same time have kept their customs and traditions. Successes The only lasting success in uniting one Church with another has been some Eastern Rite Churches with the Roman Catholic Church. Over the years different groups of these Eastern Rite Churches have united with Roman Catholics and at the same time have kept intact all their ancient customs. They are referred to as the Oriental Rite Churches and have equal status with the Roman Rite Churches. The Armenians reunited with Rome during the Crusades. It wasn't until 1595 that another group, the Ukrainians or Galician Ruthenians united with Rome. The following year the Ruthenians (Carpatho-Russians) united with Rome. In 1611 the Yugoslavs, Serbs and Croatians returned, and soon after, the Byelorussians (White Russians) joined them. The Albanians joined Rome in 1628. The Hungarian Rite united with Rome in 1646. In the year 1697 Romanians joined Rome. In 1726 Melkites joined Rome physically, although had never left spiritually. In 1741 the Copts returned to Catholic unity, and in 1781 the Syrian Eastern Rite Churches in Greece and Turkey returned. Ethiopian Churches joined the Catholics in 1846. Bulgarians followed in 1861. Georgians (Russia) returned the same year. In 1905 Orientals of the Russian Rite returned. And as late as 1930 an Eastern Church known as Malankarese of India became part of the Roman Church. I have deliberately listed all these Eastern Block Churches ================================ 158 The Miracle of Damascus because they pave the way for the Twentieth Century. There are almost no reunions outside these unions for good reason. The Protestants believe in diversity of belief. The Greek Orthodox believe in unity of belief, but diversity of authority. Therefore, there has been no call to unity. John XXIII When Pope John XXIII became the Holy Father of the Catholic world, unity dominated his mind. He made a prediction about Damascus. He had already read the "Secret of Fatima." He called for an "Ecumenical Council." He (and his predecessors) met with all the leaders of the separated Churches. He invited all separated brethren to attend the Vatican II Council. Not only did he want them to come, but to participate actively and to advise the Church on everything it could do to break down the walls of separation. Many suggestions made by Protestant and Greek Orthodox leaders that did not violate the "Doctrine of tbe Faith" was enacted. Catholic Churches were stripped of unnecessary decorations. The Latin language was discarded. Language that did not foster a spirit of loving unity was eliminated. Bishops and priests were advised to adrnit the mistakes Catholics made in the past, even to overstate them. It was the beautiful speech of the Melckite Patriarch of Antioch, Maximos IV Sayegh, that helped change the language of the Church: "Christ offered the first Eucharistic Sacrifice in a language which could be understood by all who heard him, namely, Aramaic. . . Never could the idea have come to them [the Apostles] that in a Christian gathering the celebrant should read the texts of Holy Scripture, sing psalms, preach or break bread, and at the same time use a language different from that of the community gathered there. . . because this language [Latin] was spoken by the faithful of that time, Greek was abandoned in favor of Latin . . .Why, then, should the Roman Church cease to apply the same principle today?" ================================ Attempts at Unity 159 The Church listened to the Patriarch, and the language was changed. A fixed date for Easter, such as the first Sunday in April, was proposed provided that Eastern Orthodox, Protestant and civil authorities would agree. Dr. Kristen Skysgaard, of the Lutheran World Federation, expressed his desire, "that the visible union of Christians can be quickly achieved." Pope Paul VI voiced his "desire to receive you not only on the threshold of our house, but in the very intimacy of our heart." This reminds me of Mirna's words, "From my point of view, unity will not be achieved unless we unify our hearts and plant peace, love and faith in them." Pope Paul asked that we focus "not on what has been, but on what must be. We turn toward a new thing to be born, a dream to be realized." Cardinal Bea gave the true meamng of "loving toward unity" when he added, "We must welcome criticism with humility, with reflection, and even defend itself by turning a deaf ear to suggestions that come from honest voices, especially if the voices are those of friends and brothers." Russian Orthodox observer-delegate, Archpriest Vitaly Borovoy said: The whole history of Christianity in our era is the history of the action of the Holy Spirit upon us and upon our churches, calling us to unity and helping us understand the necessity and urgency of this task. We are always ready to help our Roman Catholic brothers in anything which may contribute to harmony and unity among all Christians, so that, with a single tongue and a single heart, we may together glorify the most Holy Spirit." Breaking the Walls Pope Paul VI and Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I made a common declaration on Dec. 7, 1965, ================================ 160 The Miracle of Damascus expressing their mutual regret for offenses the churches caused each other in the past and stated their intent to erase from memory the sentences of excommunication which followed them. Through justice and mutual forgiveness they hoped to overcome the differences between the churches with the help of the Holy Spirit, and that full communion of faith, brotherly concord and sacramental life would be restored. Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I again met on Oct. 27, 1967. They called for a dialogue of charity. They expressed their conviction that the restoration of full communion between the churches would be found within fidelity to the traditions of the Fathers and to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, who remains always with the Church. Pope Paul VI and Orthodox Catholic Patriarch of Armenians met on May 12, 1970 and called for a more profound unity. Pope Paul VI and Mar Ignatlus Jacob III, Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch met on Oct. 27, 1971 and declared that they had no difference in the faith they professed, and so promised to work together to remove all obstacles to complete unity. Paul VI and Shenouda III, Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria met on May 10, 1973 and declared that they were: "determined and confident in the Lord to achieve the fullness and perfection of that unity which is His gift." Paul VI and Anglican Archbishop Donald Coggan of Canterbury declared on Apr. 29, 1977: "that goal which is Christ's Will--the restoration of complete communion in faith and sacramental life." Pope John Paul II and Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch, Dimitrios I met on Nov. 30, 1970 and mutually stated their desire for "Purification of the collective memory of our churches is an important fruit of the dialogue of charity and an indispensable condition of future progress." ================================ Attempts at Unity 161 John Paul II and Anglican Archbishop Robert Runcie of Canterbury met on May 29, 1982. They opened a commission to recommend practical steps towards a unity in faith and a full communion. Pope John Paul II and Ignatius Zakka I, Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch met June 23, 1984 and stated that there was "no real basis for the sad divisions which arose between us concerning the doctrine of the Incarnation." The norms of Vatican II encouraged common prayer services for Christian unity. Vatican II stated that all Churches of the East and West should be offered equal dignity, no matter what their different spiritual heritages, liturgies, or ecclesiastical disciplines. Under the heading above called "SUCCESSES" I listed a long list of Churches from the Eastern Block that joined the West in common unity. It was to these Eastern Rite Churches that the four Popes of Unity addressed their prayer that they would work hand in hand with the separated Eastern Churches in Charity, Love, mutual prayer, common Liturgies and shared sacraments. These Popes believed that it would be from the Eastern Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox that full unity would be achieved. It is in this background that Mirna and Nicolas married. It is in this background that the House of Soufanieh opened its doors. Probably the best example of attempts at unity is in the document of Pope Paul VI in 1972. For many years the Catholics and the Orthodox argued over the Holy Spirit. The Catholics saying "from the Son" and the Orthodox saying "through the Son." Thomas Aquinas insisted six hundred years ago that there was no difference in the two ways of understanding it. However, the wording remained the same for all these years. Finally, in 1972 in the document called ================================ 162 The Miracle of Damascus "Declaration Regarding The Safeguarding of Faith In the Mysteries Of The Incarnation And Of The Most Blessed Trinity From Some Recent Errors', we read in Chapter Four: "The Holy Spirit who proceeds, from all eternity, from the Father and from the Son, or, in other words, from the Father through the Son." The addition of, 'or, in other words, from the Father through the Son." is a major concession towards unity that should not be overlooked, for now there is no difference between the two churches on this point. The Seats of Power Actually, what separates the East and West is not so much theology or Canon Law or differences in Liturgical Rites, but it is the POWER OF THE ELDERS. This was best expressed at the Vatican Council by Archpriest Borovoy of the Russian Orthodox Church: "When I return to Russia, no one is going to ask me what the theologians said. But they will ask, 'Were some of the Eastern patriarchs there, and what places did they occupy?' " Patriarch Maximos IV rightfully stated that it was illogical that the Council, while striving to break down the barriers between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, should at the same time seat the patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches after the cardinals. One of the most cherished rights which the patriarchs had always enjoyed was their precedence in rank. In earlier centuries, the patriarchs had always followed immediately after the Pope, who himself was still called Patriarch of the West. In fact, ecclesiastical tradition from the earliest centuries consistently lists the rank of the Sees in the Univer- ================================ Attempts at Unity 163 sal Church in the following order: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem." Again Patriarch Maximos IV stated, "the rank assigned to them by the canons of the earliest ecumenical councils, that is, the first place immediately after the Supreme Pontiff." "In fact, the decisions of the earliest ecumenical councils in this matter had been respected at the Council of Florence in 1439, where, by order of Pope Eugene IV, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Joseph II, had occupied the first place after the Pope. "This question is a grave one and may constitute a nearly insurmountable obstacle to future union between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. "The most serious problem of all is that of having bishops of different Eastern Catholic rites in the same See, with jurisdiction over the same territory." These are the real things that separate and they always have been. Nowhere in the world is this more evident than in Damascus, where there are more bishops and patriarchs than in all of Mexico. Charity means to give something. Someone has to have enough love, enough charity to give up his power, his seat, his position. If not, there will never be unity. Those who are well read in history will note that once, in the interest of unity, the Pope gave up his seat. I know of many saintly Cardinals, and I believe if it had to be, even the Pope, himself, would step down for the sake of a unified Kingdom. Nationalism is another cause of separation. Nationalism must be given up, at least in the Church of God. To have followers of Christ clinging to "their Church" on one side of the street because it was the church of their fathers; and followers of Christ clinging to "their Church" on the other side of the street because it is Polish, or Italian, or Syrian is stupid. ================================ 164 The Miracle of Damascus Again I will give the last word to Mirna: "What God is asking of us is difficult. It won't come about unless the big ones give up their seats, their haughtiness, and their greed." Meetings and Dialogue to Nowhere A Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity was set up in 1960. In the U.S., the Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs was established in 1964, The World Council of Churches had started in 1954, The National Council of Churches in 1950, Consultation on Church Union in 1962, and The Graymoor Ecumenical Institute formed the same year. The American Baptist Convention met four times from 1967 to 1971 for unity dialogue. The Southern Ecumenical Institute of Baptists met 24 times from 1969-86. The Council on Christian Unity met 15 times from 1967-80. The Anglican- Roman Catholic Consultation had 31 meetings from 1965-85. The Lutheran World Ministries talked about unity at 47 gatherings from 1965-86. The United Methodists met 21 times from 1966-81. The Orthodox Conference of Cannonical Orthodox Bishops of America talked unity at 31 meetings from 1965-85. The Oriental Orthodox Churches met 11 times from 1978-84. The Polish National Catholics met four times from 1984-86. The Roman Catholic-Presbyterian Consultation Group worked on unity in 31 meetings from 1965-85. International Bilateral Commissions were set up. The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, The International Theological Colloquium between Baptists and Catholics, The Disciples of Christ-Roman Catholic Dialogue, The Evangelical-Roman Catholic Dialogue on Mission, The Joint Lutheran-Roman Catholic Study Commission, TheJoint Methodist-Roman Catholic Commission, The International Catholic-Orthodox Theological Commission, The Pentecostal- Roman Catholic Conversations, and The Reformed-Roman Catholic Conversations. ================================ Attempts at Unity 165 And what have these commissions, this dialogue, these studies, these conversations produced in the way of unity? Nothing except talk; talk, talk and talk. Oh, I'm sure the Theologians and the Canon Lawyers will be angry with that statement. They will say that, "we came to this agreement, or that understanding, or compromised on this and that point." This will not unite. Unity will come when we refuse to repeat the mistakes of our fathers; when we refuse to remember the mistakes of our fathers; when we refuse to see national and ethnic differences; when we the people say we have had enough of this talk and walk en masse out of our respective Churches and meet in the streets, hugging, loving, giving, forgiving, and praying together. Then you will see the Power, and the Glory of the Holy Spirit. ================================ CHAPTER 7 What Unites? Unity entails having one mind, one goal, one purpose, or one body. There are many examples of unity in the world and in history. People who have the same language and customs unite into a country. Countries unite to fight one common enemy. Sometimes the world unites in one cause, example --polution. To unite people, though, requires leadership. Good or bad, it is leadership that brings people together. God knows that not all leaders will be acceptable to the people, but in the interest of peace and unity He ordered a chain of command throughout the ages. This chain of command is best illustrated in the family. Without compromise or apology He made man the head of the family and woman the head of the children. This is not because man earned the right or even because he has some special qualities. It is simply because it has to be. It cannot be democratic. Logic will demonstrate what happens when there is no clear- cut leader in the family. Of course, God outsmarted us men by making the woman smarter, stronger, more social and more loving. This same absolute chain of command had to be set up in His Kingdom and so He did. As already pointed out in Bible passages, Christ ordered a chain of command so that we would go down through the ages with one mind and one faith united in love of each other and God's truths. The early fathers knew this was the glue that held the Kingdom together and never stopped insisting on obedience to the authorities God ordained to lead us. 166 ================================ What Unites? 167 "Your obedience to your bishop, as though he were Jesus Christ, shows me plainly enough that yours is no worldly manner of life, but that of Jesus Christ Himself, Who gave His life for us that faith in His death might save you from death. At the same time, however, essential as it is that you should never act independently of the bishop--as evidently you do not--you must also be no less submissive to your clergy, and regard them as apostles of Jesus Christ our Hope, in whom we shall one day be found, if our lives are lived in Him. The deacons too, who serve the mysteries ofJesus Christ, must be men universally approved in every way; since they are not mere dispensers of meat and drink, but servants of the church of God, and there- fore under obligation to guard themselves against any slur or imputation as strictly as they would against fire itself. "Equally, it is for the rest of you to hold the deacons in as great respect as Jesus Christ; just as you should also look on the bishop as a type of the Father, and the clergy as the Apostolic circle forming His council; for without these three orders NO CHURCH HAS ANY RIGHT TO THE NAME. "Be as submissive to the bishop and to one another as Jesus Christ was to His Father, and as the Apostles were to Christ and the Father; so that there may be complete unity, in the flesh as well as in the spirit." (Ignatius of Antioch on his way to his death in 80 A.D.). Just like the head of the household, bishops are not elected by a democratic vote of the people. They are Apostolic, meaning they are directly descended from the Apostles by the laying on of hands, thereby receiving their right to rule from God Himself. "Our Apostles knew, through Our Lord Jesus Christ, that there would be dissensions over the title of bishop. In their full foreknowledge of this, therefore, they proceeded to appoint the ministers I spoke of, and they went on to add an instruction that if these should fall asleep, other ================================ 168 The Miracle of Damascus accredited persons should succeed them in their office." (Saint Clement of Rome_100 A.D.). And so, the first point I am making is that unity requires order, and order requires a chain of command, and this chain is ordained by God, and God is never wrong. But lest any- one in a leadership role get a big head, He also commanded that those leaders be the servants, the protectors, the slaves of their people. This brings us to the greatest of all ways to be united: family love. Family Love The family is the best example of unity or disunity. The family is a group of people who have promised to love each other toward their mutual goals of love, security, health, growth, and death. They say they will love each other in sickness and health, in good times and bad times, in richness or poverty. The truly great families of the world are not those who seek love, but those who seek to love. They are not those who want, but those who want to give. They are not those who need, but those who need to help. "But," you will say, "it takes two to love." No! My friends, it takes one to love. Only one ever loves. To really love is to love without expecting love in return. If Christ only loved those who loved Him, He would not have died on the Cross for very many people of this world. He loved people until they loved Him and even if they never did. This is what makes marriages work, even when one in the family is an alcoholic, or sick or ugly. If you love "because," you are selling your love. Do not sell Christ's blood. The first step towards unity is to love as Christ loved, without conditions. When Mary said, "Be it done according to your word," Her "Yes" opened the door for the "Kingdom of Heaven" to enter the world. Christ entered into Mary, but He did not leave Heaven behind. When Mary said, "Yes" to Her superiors and ================================ What Unites? 169 married Joseph, in spite of Her desire to remain unmarried, She gave to the Kingdom unity and organization. When Mary said, "Yes," Her mission had ended, for Her mission was to bring Christ into the world, to become one with Him, to become the Mother of God, to become the Mother of all mankind, to become the Queen of Heaven and Earth. Her generation began because She became Mother of the Church. As we contemplate this family, this first Church, this first Body of Christ, this first Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, we will see how God intended the Church to be. It had God within it. It honored Mary. It had a leader, who all obeyed. The least in the order of human authority was the greatest. The head in the order of human authority was the servant of the others. Christ taught both Joseph and Mary through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but Christ did not assume the role of father, as He rightfully could have. He left that to Joseph. He "adopted" Joseph to be head of the family and obeyed him in all things. This has other connotations; but for now, think of how this relates to love. Is it love to give and at the same time have an attitude of superiority? The Pharisee in Luke 18:11 paid his tithes and thanked God he was not like the Publican. The Publican was probably a rich man. He worked for the Romans, most likely as a tax-collector. Whatever he was in the eyes of creatures did not matter to him. He was a sinner in the eyes of God, as all of us are, and that was all that was important to him. Joseph was the head of the "Kingdom of Heaven on Earth," but he thought of himself as the least in the family, as the protector of the Word and his Mother, as a servant to them. Mary is the Mother of God, and yet obeyed Joseph in all things, never doing anything without his approval, and never saying "No" to anything he wanted to do. Christ is God, and yet He obeyed Joseph in al1 things. To really love we must not only love the person, but the position of the person. We must love his or her place in the world as though it was Christ, Himself, occupying that place. In our children, we should see Christ. In our mothers and fathers, we should ================================ 170 The Miracle of Damascus see Christ. In our bishops and priests, we should see Christ. So, when we give our love (and we are giving it to Christ), how can we look down on them as the Pharisee did? True love, the kind Mother Teresa gives, the kind Father Paul gives, is the love that breaks down the walls of separation and division. It is this love that unites. We are all one family in the eyes of God. Family Love is the love of unity. Prayer unites. The little house in Damascus is a great example of that. Father Patrick Peyton coined the saying, "The Family that Prays Together Stays Together," and this should be the battle cry of unity. The Church is a family. Right now it is a divorced family. Christ said that what "God puts together, let no man put asunder." Who split this family that God put together is not important. "Whoever divided us has been punished by God " (Mirna). What is important is that we make it right. "We should put right this immense wrongdoing against Christ. We should not continue in it." (Mirna). We will only accomplish this by praying together, Greek and Roman, East and West, Catholic and Orthodox and Protestant. We must pray together as a family whenever and wherever we can. If you Catholics do not know an Orthodox Christian, go find one and pray together, family with family. In this way (and only this way) will we break down the walls of separation. When we, Greeks and we, Romans pray together, there will Christ and Mary be praying with us. "We must, therefore, pray to God with insistence to put peace in our hearts and to remove hatred and selfishness from the hearts of His children, who are only His when in need and who sell Him off when He needs them." (Mirna). God needs us to reunite His Kingdom. Let us pray together as one, one big family. Unity Without Joseph? It was said at Fatima that when the world understands the sanctity of Saint Joseph, there will be peace. Joseph as a man is rather obscure, but as Head of the family much can be ================================ What Unites? 171 said. I like to think of a family as a treasure box. Inside are fine pearls (mother and children). The box itself is the father. He must hold them together, protect them, keep them as one, keep them united. That is why so many marriages in the world today don't work. Everyone wants to be the box. What do you have when you have two empty boxes? Everyone wants to jump out of the box. And now we have many lost pearls. To bring them back we must find the box and honor it. The box is Joseph. Joseph represents the authority God placed on earth to bind us together into one family. He also represents what God wants of these elders. Make no mistake about it. Christ set up a chain of command in the Kingdom and insists we obey that chain. That Chain holds the pearls together. Inductive reasoning also demands a Joseph. If we consider the household, whose end is to teach its members to live rightly, there is need for one called the pater-familias, or for someone holding his place, to direct and govern, according to the Philosopher when he says, "Every household is ruled by its eldest." It is for him, as Homer said, to guide and make laws for those dwelling with him. For this arises the proverbial CURSE. "May you have an equal in your house." Inductive reasoning also teaches us that a single worldwide family must have a single ruler for peace and harmony, but it is not to be understood that every decision of every issue in every city comes from him directly. Nations, kingdoms, and cities have individual conditions which must be governed by different laws. There can be only one faith, but there can and should be many ways of expressing that faith. Unity does not mean the sameness of ways, only the sameness of faith and of love. In matters of opinion--freedom. In matters of faith--unity. In all other things--love. But even these diversities must be regulated by those who govern under the one who governs all. Paul in Romans 13:1-2: ================================ 172 The Miracle of Damascus "Let everyone be subject to the higher authorities for there exists no authonty e3ccept from God and those who exist have been appointed by God. Therefore, he who resists the authority resists the ordinance of God; and they that resist bring on themselves condemnation." All authority comes from God, and to violate that authority is to violate the Fourth Commandment. This order of authority is especially in the Kingdom as expressed in Eph. 4: 13 and again in 1 Cor. 12:28. Paul admonishes us to be subject to all authorities, obeying commands and ready for every good work in Titus 3:1. We are to be subject even to the priests. (1 Peter 5:5) In Ex. 7:11 we learn that not everyone in the Kingdom is a priest. Jude tells us that to disregard authority makes us like Satan. (Jude 1:8). The Kingdom will have deacons (Acts 6:6), and priests (Titus 1:7; 1 Tim. 5:17), and bishops (Acts 20:28; Titus 1:7). The Apostles warn us to obey them and also warn them to care for us. But over all these deacons, priests, and bishops, Christ set up one gate-keeper, one protector of the pearls, one final authority on earth over all others. Christ adopted Joseph to be that one protector of the Word of God, and He was subject to him. After Joseph died (and only after he died), Christ took earthly charge of His Kingdom. Upon His death He passed it on. Ruling His Kingdom from Heaven, He placed one in charge on Earth and promised to guide him and to be with him until the end of time. "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father in Heaven. And I say to you, you art Peter [rock], and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not preval agamst it. "And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and whatever you shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven." (Matt. 16:17-19). ================================ What Unites? 173 Christ directs Peter to lead His Kingdom. (John 21:15-19). He warns us that if we try to go around Peter, we are thieves and robbers: "Amen, Amen, I say to you, he who enters not by the door into the sheepSold [the Kingdom] but climbs up another way, is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is shepherd of the sheep. To this man the gatekeeper [Peter] opens and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them by faith." (John 10:1-3). Christ is not the Gatekeeper for He says, "I am the door." (John 10:7 & 9), but He wants all to enter into the Kingdom. "And other sheep I have that are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." (John 10-16). St. Cyprian was Bishop of Carthage in 258 A.D. and the first African bishop to be martyred. Some of his writings are still preserved today. His letter, "On the Unity of the Chxrch," is very appropriate today. Here are some of his teachings in this letter. "The Lord says to Peter: 'I say to thee, that thou art Peter and upon this rock. . .' It is on one man that He builds the Church, and although He assigns a like power to all the Apostles after His resurrection, saying: 'As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you . . . receive ye the Holy Spirit: if you forgive any man his sins, they shall be forgiven him; if you retain any man's sins they shall be retained': yet, in order that the oneness might be unmistakable, He established by His own authority a source for that oneness having its origin in one man alone. No doubt the other Apostles were all that Peter was, endowed with equal dignity and power, but the start comes from him alone, in order to show that the Church of Christ is unique. Indeed this oneness of the Church is figured in the Canticle of Canticles when the Holy Spirit, speaking in Our Lord's name, says: 'One is my dove, my perfect one: to her mother she is the only one, the darling of her womb.' If a man ================================ 174 The Miracle of Damascus does not hold fast to this oneness of the Church, does he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he resists and withstands the Church, has he still confidence that he is in the Church, when the blessed Apostle Paul gives us this very teaching and points to the mystery of Oneness, saying: 'One body and one Spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God?' "Now, THIS ONENESS WE MUST HOLD TO FIRMLY AND INSIST ON--especially we who are bishops and exercise authority in the Church--so as to demonstrate that the episcopal power is one and undivided too. Let none mislead the brethren with a lie, let none corrupt the true content of the faith by a faithless perversion of the truth. THE AUTHORITY OF THE BISHOPS FORMS A UNIT of which each holds his part in its totality, and the Church forms a unity, however far she spreads and multiplies by the progeny of her fecundity; just as the sun's rays are many, yet the strength deriving from its sturdy root is one. So, too, though many streams flow from a single spring, though its multiplicity seems scattered abroad by the copiousness of its welling waters, yet THEIR ONENESS ABIDES BY REASON OF THEIR STARTING POINT. Cut off one of the sun's rays_the unity of that body permits no such division of its light; break off a branch from a tree, it can bud no more; dam off a stream from its source, it dries up below the cut. So too, Our Lord's Church is radiant with light and pours her rays over the whole world; but it is one and the same light which is spread everywhere, and the unity of her body suffers no division. "She spread her branches in generous growth over all the earth, she extends her abundant streams ever further; yet one is the head-spring, one the source, one the mother who is prolific in her offspring, generation after generation; of her womb are we born, of her milk are we fed, of her Spirit our souls draw their life-breath. "The spouse of Christ cannot be defiled. She is inviolate and chaste; she knows one home alone; in all modesty she keeps faithfully to one couch. It is she who rescues us for ================================ What Unites? 175 God, she who seals for the Kingdom the sons whom she has borne. "Whoever breaks with the Church and enters on an adulterous union cuts himself off from the promises made to the Church; and he who has turned his back on the Church of Christ shall not come to the rewards of Christ: he is an alien, a worldling, an enemy. YOU CANNOT HAVE GOD FOR YOUR FATHER IF YOU HAVE NOT THE CHURCH FOR YOUR MOIHER... "There must be also heresies, that those approved may be manifest among you. . .This explains why certain people, backed by their hot-headed associates, seize authority for themselves without any divine sanction, making themselves into prelates regardless of the rules of appointment, and having no one to confer the episcopate upon them, assume the title of Bishop on their own authority." Who Is The Rock? And so, we have the words of the Bishop of Carthage in 251 A.D. to ponder as we walk towards unity. It is my purpose in these writings to give direction in as charitable way as I can. It will not be easy, but truth is the best charity. No one who is learned in Scripture or the early history of the Church denies that Peter was the head of the Church. No one denies that the Church has always held that there will always be a successor to Peter until the end of time. Logic and history also teach us that unity can only happen with a single leader. Democracy does not work, because the majority wanted Christ crucified. Probably one of the most perfect governments in the history of the world is America. America is not a democracy. America is a government of written laws. The laws must be obeyed by both the governed and the governors. A president in America must obey the same law as I do. I can know this law because it is written. In a democracy, there is no law but the 1aw of the mob, and that could change everyday. We do have a democratic ================================ 176 The Miracle of Damascus way of electing the law-makers, but not a democratic way of making the laws. The Kingdom had a system much like that, except that only those who were well read in the law of God could vote for the law-maker. When the binder and looser was elected, he was the last word in all disputes. It cannot be any other way. Pluras Unum (first among many) does not work. A circle must have a center. It must have a point to work from. A Kingdom, a family, a circle must have a head, a starting point and an ending point. They must be the same point. Some say that the Kingdom is a Kingdom of Councils and that Councils of Bishops run the Church. But if one studies the history of the different Orthodox and Catholic Councils, you will find many Councils that did not have the final approval of the Kingdom. Sometimes Bishops from a single part of the world will gather together and declare crazy things for the flock to believe (as has happened in America in the past few years). They have no more authority than similar Councils had in the first century of the Church. These first century Councils are still condemned by both the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches. Another problem with Councils is that there never has been a Council in the history of the world where every Bishop in the world agreed to the same document. Who is to say that the majority is correct on something? Why could not the minority be cor- rect? The truth is that the minority is usually correct. That being (almost always) the case, of what value is a Council unless someone speaks for Christ? Let us assume half the bishops and patriarches of the world declare one thing and half another. What happens then? Someone has to make a final decision. That person does not have the right to make Doctrine, for all Doctrine comes from Christ. But when there are differences of opinion as to what Christ taught, there has to be one (and only one) person who gives the final interpretation of the WORDS of Christ. That person should be guided by ================================ What Unites? 177 the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Love and Truth. I can think of no other solution to unity. Even the word "Council" comes from the word "Coun- sel" meaning "to give advice." Most people agree with a single leader; however, they disagree as to who this person should be. Some do not see unity of faith as even necessary at all. Nicol and I discussed these problems of unity. I voiced the above arguments. I have been associating with hundreds of Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholics in the past five months. They all know that a single leader is a must, but who this must be is the question. This is especially difficult in light of what I have already pointed out regarding the mistakes of some of the Popes in the past. But let us consider the father of a family. We know from God's Fourth Commandment that obedience to him is a must in all things except sin. We know that if he asks us to do something that is absolutely stupid (but not sinful) we must do it. Of course, we should (with all the love we can muster) point out the stupidity if we can. But this having been done, we must obey. Keeping that in mind, let us con- sider who should be the father of the Kingdom today. But first let us consider WHERE this leader should make his home. If like Photius said, that Peter should be where the Emperor is or where the strongest city in the world is, what city would that be today? Constantinople has less than 7000 Greek Christians. It is not a power of the world. What about the other Patriarchal Sees: Alexandria, Antioch, or Jerusalem? Perhaps Moscow? But the Church of Moscow is under the control and appointment of the Communists. Jerusalem is under the Jews. Should a Bishop rule the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth who was approved by the Communists or subject to the Jews? Maybe it should be one of the Bishops in America. America is a strong power today. But what about tomorrow? If the Bishop of America is that single leader, and tomorrow America is crushed by another country, should he give up his job to the bishop of the victorious country? ================================ 178 The Miracle of Damascus If it is Rome and the Roman bishop, then why? Even Peter called Rome the new Babylon. Why Rome? It is difficult for me to give this answer, because it is a question I did not even want to face in this book. And I want you to understand that this is strictly my opinion, and not the opinion of Mirna or Nicolas. I have never asked them and I never will, because they must remain neutral in these matters. These problems confronting unity will only be decided by the elders, not us. But we must reflect on them, so that we are prepared for their decisions. I have more friends amongst the Greek Orthodox than amongst the Catholics. I further believe that the Greek Orthodox will bring more beauty, more holiness, more love, and more tradition into the Kingdom than they will get from the Catholics. I literally believe that the unity of the Greeks will stop the fast decline of the Catholics. We need them, maybe more than they need us. Rationalism has crept into the Western Church. They call themselves "Freethinkers." They respect no authority, not Divine, not Church, not father or mother. The union of the Orthodox with the Catholic Churches will save the Western Church from this onslaught of freethinkers. It isn't Church Nationalism that brings me to this opinion because Pluralism has crept into the Catholic Church and not into the Orthodox Church. Truth is truth, and Christ is truth. If we are going to march for unity of faith, we might just as well face this problem right now. The leader of the Anglican delegation to Vatican II, Bishop John Moorman, gave his views on the subject. "If there was ever to be unity among Christians, there will have to be a central head of the Church, and that head will certainly have to be the Bishop of Rome." If we leave it up to theologians, bishops, and patriarchs, though, we will not have unity for five hundred years. We must face this question now, so that we (the people) will not have to depend on elders for the answers. They have had nine hundred years to justify disunity and ================================ What Unites? 179 will be well armed with all the answers from both sides. Do we need this? We are simple. A simple sign from Heaven is enough for us. Signs From Heaven Patriarch Michael closed all the Latin churches in Constantinople and desecrated all the hosts in the altars, saying that they were not the real body and blood of Christ, since the Catholics were no longer orthodox. We, whether Catholic or Orthodox, know this is not true. One of the reasons we know is "signs from Heaven." One of these signs from Heaven is in the little House of Soufanich. Others are: The Miraculous Medal, Lourdes, La Salette, Fatima, Guadalupe, etc. In Damascus it was in a Catholic Church that a statue cried in 1977. It is Mirna, a Catholic, who is receiving the miracle in their home. There have been 370 Stigmatists like Mirna since St. Francis; there are hundreds of statues and pictures like the Icon; and there are thousands of miraculous cures like at the house in Damascus. If Catholics were not Orthodox, God would not be sending His Holy Spirit. There is no question that Heaven has spoken and often. I will offer another sign from Heaven that is not so obvious. I am writing this right outside of Rome in a place called Rocca De Papa. Last week I entered St. Peter's Basilica. Two days ago I went under the building to see St. Peter's grave. Yesterday I climbed to the top of the dome and stood over the main altar. Twenty-five years ago (when still an atheist) I did a report on the archaeological discovery of his tomb. I offer this to you. In 313 A.D. Roman Emperor Constantine built a church for the Christians. He was newly converted and wanted to show his love for Christ. He built this church in Rome, even though he set up his seat of government in Constantinople. He chose the site where he thought St. Peter's grave was. It was a bad place to build a church, since it was on the side of a hill. Nonetheless, he built three retaining walls and filled in the entire side of the hill so that he could build. ================================ 180 The Miracle of Damascus He built the largest building in the world at that time. As time went on, several new main altars were built on top of the others. And in 1500 A.D. it was decided to build a new Basilica. In order to have a Church of Peter standing always, the decision was made to build the new one right over the old one without tearing it down until after the new Basilica was completed. The new one had to be much bigger than the old one so that the old one could fit inside, until the construction was completed, and so it was. As you stand in the dome, the people at the altar look like ants. In the years of Pope Pius XII and during World War II, an expedition was authorized by the Pope to find out if the legend of the Christian burial grounds were true. Under the Basilica of St. Peter's they found writings that proved it was not a legend. Money was authorized to look for the grave of St. Peter. Twelve years later, after going down into the earth under old walls and then back up to within twenty feet of the existing floor they found St. Peter's tomb. Survey teams were brought in to find out where it was, relative to the world above. They found that the tomb was directly beneath the center of the dome, directly beneath the center of the main altar; not close to the center, but exactly center. "Upon this Rock I will build My Church." For me (and I do not speak for all the "Messengers of Unity"), Rome is the proper place because it is the final home of Peter and Paul. There they gave their lives for the Kingdom. Now, let us consider who should sit on the Seat of Peter. Let us imagine that Pope John Paul II steps down from the Chair of Peter in the interest of unity. It has been done before in history. 1 Let us imagine that _____ 1. In 1417 there were three Popes who ciaimed to be the real Pope, one at Pisa, one at Avignon and one in Rome. At the Council of Constance the real Pope at Rome agreed to resign and the other two were deposed. A single Pope was elected, Martin V and unity returned. ================================ What Unites? 181 all the Patriarchs of all the different Catholic and Orthodox Churches of the world join with all the Cardinals of the Catholic world and elect a new Peter. Let us imagine further that only the Patriarchs of the world elect a new Peter. Let us further imagine that only the five Patriarchs of the original five Sees elect a new Peter for all the Churches of the world. In any one of these imaginary cases, I believe that the Holy Spirit will guide their decision. What should this united Church be called? I do not care. Let us call it Catholic, but if that offends the Orthodox, let us call it Orthodox, or Catholic Orthodox, or God's One House, or The Kingdom. Who cares? These things are not important. What is important is unity, love, forgiveness, a single faith, united prayer. What is important is that we march in the same direction. Let there be many kinds of Masses, many ways to honor God, many ways to sing, many ways to pray, but only one faith, only one Kingdom. ================================ CHAPTER 8 Organizing Towards Unity We have presented the story of the Miracle of Damascus. We have analyzed the messages. We have looked at the history of the divisions of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. We have seen what great efforts have been made in the last thirty years to bring about unity. Together we have discovered the enormous extent of these divisions. Probably no one, including myself, realized the amount of time and effort that has gone into the dream of a united Body of Christ, since John XXIII first had the grace to dream. We have seen for ourselves that it will never happen if left up the the elders of the Churches. And so, we now know why Mary had to come down to the little house in Damascus and ask our help. TELL MY CHILDREN, IT IS FROM THEM I AM SEEKING UNITY. We have faced the hard theological questions. I have presented my opinion, knowing that Nicol and Mirna would never take sides. We have seen from the messages that Heaven has taken a stand, and that Doctrine is important. Things like "Pray for the inhabitants of Samma and Earth," [PURGATORy, THE TRINITY, THE MOTHER OF GOD, THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS, THE UNITY of the Kingdom, all these Doctrines have been faced in the messages of Damascus. These were the Doctrines that split the Church. If you feel I have unjustly taken sides in these disputes, then it is up to you to find out which Kingdom preaches these Doctrines and which one teaches against them. Even if you 182 ================================ Organizing Towards Uttity 183 are unsure, one thing you must know is that there cannot be two Christs, two truths, two ways. However, I once told my sister if we were one person we would have been great in the eyes of God, since she has what I lack and I have what she lacks. This is also true of the Catholics and Orthodox of today. I remember watching a new and beautiful church being built in Escondido, California. The people were building it with their own hands, and it was a marvelous tribute to God. The Catholic churches built in my area over the past twenty years have been so poor and disrespectful to the Almighty that I was ecstatic to see one I would enjoy going into. To my great sadness, though, it was an Armenian Orthodox Church. I couldn't attend. Now, there is a beautiful Greek Orthodox Church being built. When we do unite the churches, these ethnic churches will fill up to the breaking point because Catholics (like me) would rather go to the churches where God is truly honored. We Catholics do have a wealth of saints and apparitions to offer to the Orthodox, but the Orthodox have a wealth of beautiful churches, art, music, and most reverent Masses to offer the Catholics. Together we will bring great joy to the Holy Trinity and the Mother of God. It is very obvious from the messages that it is going to be very difficult for some Protestants to unite with Orthodox and Catholics. However, there is nothing stopping the Catholic and Orthodox Churches from becoming one anymore except for the seats of power. Over the years all other obstacles have faded away. THOSE WHO HAVE THE MOST LOVE WILL BE THE ONES WHO STEP DOWN. We, the people, through our united prayers, will give them that love. We will love them so much, pray for them so much, encourage them so much that they will throw their seats out the windows. Then we will gather them into our arms and hearts and love them all the way to Christ and Mary. ================================ 184 The Miracle of Damascus No Virtue Without Obedience I was involved in the miracle of the Philippines. One thing I learned there was that you cannot correct a wrong by doing the same wrong. The "people power" of the Philippines overthrew a government without ever violating a single law and without ever resorting to violence. Divisions in the Kingdom occurred for one reason and one reason only. Someone had to be disobedient. As long as there is obedience to the higher authority and to the laws of Christ, there can be no divisions in the Kingdom. In 80 A.D. Bishop Ignatius of Antioch said, "In the same way as the Lord was wholly one with the Father, and never acted independently of Him, either in person or through the Apostles, so you yourselves must never act independently of your bishop and clergy. ON NO ACCOUNT PERSUADE YOURSELVES THAT IT IS RIGHT AND PROPER TO FOLLOW YOUR OWN PRIVATE JUDGMENT; have a single service of prayer which everybody attends; one united supplication, one mind, one hope, in love and innocent joyfulness. "For we can have no life apart from Jesus Christ; and as He represents the mind of the Father, so our bishops, even those who are stationed in the remotest parts of the world, represent the mind of Jesus Christ. "That is why it is proper for your conduct and your prac- tices to correspond closely with the mind of the bishop. And this, indeed, they are doing; your justly respected clergy, who are a credit to God, are attuned to their bishop like the strings of a harp, and the result is a hymn of praise to Jesus Christ from minds that are in unison, and affections that are in harmony. Pray, then, come andjoin this choir, every one of you; let there be a whole symphony of minds in concert; take the tone all together from God, and sing aloud to the Father with one voice through Jesus Christ, so that He may hear you and know by your works that you are indeed members of His Son's Body. A completely united front will help to keep you in constant communion with God." ================================ Organizing Towards Unity 185 If we, the people, resort to disobedience to bring about unity, we will fail because if we give in to disobedience now, we wil1 love it tomorrow. We need the help of God and His graces to create unity, and if we sin, grace will be shut off. Christ said all authority comes from God. (Rom. 13:1-14). Padre Pio said, "Without obedience there is no virtue." Your bishop, your patriarch, your pastor, your priest are the keys to unity. They must be a part of our drive toward one King- dom on Earth. We must love them and pray for them. They are the ones who will make the real sacrifices, not us. I will be giving some suggestions for bringing about this unity God is asking of us. But NEVER do anything without your bishop's or your patriarch's approva1. The great lesson of the French Revolution is that a mob without a head will fall into the pit. We will be asking Catholic prlests and Orthodox priests to pray together with us. We will be asking Catholic bishops and patriarchs to pray together with us. It is this togetherness Mary is asking for. She is not asking us to separate but to unite. They, the elders, will be the ones to unite. We will be the ones to pray for them, encourage them, and to love them. This is not to say that we people don't have power, we do. Mirna and I were sitting at a table with Char-Bishop, Monsignor Joseph C. Feghali of St. Marron's in Detroit. An old man shouted out at the Monsignor: "What can we people do for unity. I have tried for years, but you elders always reject us." The Monsignor's answer was so pleasing to God that oil gushed out of Mirna's hands. I never saw so much oil. Chor- Bishop Joseph C. Faghali: "Who put the elders in this position? The people did. If you stand up and demand unity, and if you teach your children unity instead of hatred [prejudice], then we elders will be forced to have unity. ================================ 186 The Miracle of Damascus "So what if the elders do not want to move towards unity? Shall we be passive [lukewarm]? We must awake to the truth of what God wants. We can choose presidents. Why do we not accept the power in us? Yes! It is not easy. That is why we must pray. Wake up to what we CAN DO, and you will be surprized at what will happen with the help of God. Wake up the elders to the fact that the Church is the people." Yes, Monsignor Faghali, there is much we can do, and we will. We will insists, we will push, we will march, we will picket, we will shout, we will teach, we will pray, we will love, but we will not disobey. In the spirit of St. Catherine of Sienna, we will encourage, give advice, yes, and even reprimand with love, but we will not disobey. If we rebel against authority, we are just as guilty as our fathers were. Pray First and Last Without the help of God, we can never bring about unity. Unity starts in the home and spreads its rays to the commu- nity and then to the nation and then to the world. Pray together. Pray together in the family. Then pray together in the community. Then pray together as a nation. Then, God willing, we will pray together as a Kingdom. There is no other way. Father Patrick Peyton was asked to organize a nationwide Rosary Crusade in the Philippines. Cardinal Sin knew that families at prayer lead to communities and nations at prayer. And when nations pray, the world is at peace. When the Crusade reached its peak, Father Peyton found himself standing before two million people all praying together. Impossible? Pray and see! You already have a great help. Father Robert Fox, the great Fatima priest, said: "Sister Lucia, the sole survivor of the Fatima Appari- tions, has said that her constant prayer and sacrifice now ================================ Organizing Towards Unity 187 and until she reaches Heaven, is for UNITY IN THE CHURCH. " The millions of members of Focolare have been praying for this unity for years. Impossible? Pray and see! On March 25, 1984 when Pope John Paul II consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in union with all the bishops of the world, some of the Catholic bishops did not do it with him. However, Russian Orthodox bishops and Greek Orthodox bishops joined in with him and made up for the lack of Catholic bishops. Since that day supernatural things have been happening in Russia. Gorbachev's mother and father secretly baptized him. They hid Icons of Our Lady behind a picture of Lenin. Gorbachev became head of Russia. Religion was legalized. Assumption Church in Moscow opened and there are now 200 baptisms a week in that one church alone. 6,000 churches in Russia opened for the first time in 50 years. Eastern Europe was freed. The Berlin wall came tumbling down. Gorbachev visited the Holy Father and called him the highest spiritual power in the world. As Father Messias Coelho states, "Russia has become a volcano for Christ." All this happened because the bishops of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches offered Russia to Our Lady. Impossible? Pray and see! "If you say to this mountain 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea' even that will happen. You will receive all that you pray for, provided you have faith." (Matt. 21:21-22). If you are a Catholic and don't know any Orthodox Christians, go find one. Ask him to come and pray with you. If you are Orthodox, go find a Catholic. Pray together. That is the beginning. Catholic priests, go out there and pray with your fellow Orthodox priests. Bishops, call up your nearest Orthodox leaders and ask them to pray together with you. That is the start. Build little shrines in your houses and ================================ 188 The Miracle of Damascus pray. Pray the Rosary or the chotki, pray the prayers in the messages, pray for unity. Ask the sick to offer up their sufferings for unity. From these prayers you will receive the oil, the power of the Holy Spirit, and this power will blow down the walls of separation. Let us pray the Lord's Prayer together, for when we say "Our Father," we don't say, "My Father." We say, "Our Father," since we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Like it or not, we are all Christians as long as we pray the Lord's Prayer. So let us unite. When we say, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven," we are asking for unity and we know it is God's Will. When we say, "Give us this day our daily bread," we are asking for the manna from Heaven, Our Lord's Body and Blood, not just for ourselves, but for all our brothers and sisters. When we pray, "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us" we are in great danger, because He will judge us on this. Listen to the words carefully. It is a group prayer. We are praying for all the members of the Kingdom. Lead US not into the temptation of nationalism, Lord, but deliver US from the evil of disunity. So be it. Even in the prayer to Mary we say "us" not "me." Let US act like we pray Love and Forgiveness Without love and a forgiving heart, our prayers will not be answered. We must feel in our hearts a love like Christ loved. The more resistance you have, the more criticism, the more resentment, the more you must love them. Love the bad priest until he is good. Love the greedy bishop until he is giving. Love the pompous and proud until they are humble. Plant peace and love in your hearts, and the walls of sepa- ration will come tumbling down. Whatever separates you from your brother, get rid of it. If it's language, overcome it. If it's nationality or color or politics or age, overcome these things. Learn to love all God's children, no matter what. If we have divisions in our hearts, we will not overcome divisions in the Kingdom of God. ================================ Organizing Towards Unity 189 Two thousand years ago a tiny Heart beat for the first time inside the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. It took its first beat in the womb of Mary. Over a billion beats of the Sacred Heart, later it stopped. It was silent. And then. . .a Roman lance stabbed into it. . .and it beat one last time . . . But was it the last time? No! That lance opened it up. It opened His Sacred Heart up to you. He lives. His blood flows in you, if you are in His Mystical Body. It flows from body to body in His Kingdom, from cell to cell, from soul to soul. His Heart beats...it beats in you. Look at that man next to you. Christ's blood flows in him. It flows from him to you. We are the cells in His body. If you hate him, you hate the body of Christ. "His Sacred Heart beats again . . . Listen! . . . It's in you . . .We, who eat His Flesh and drink His Blood, keep His Sacred Heart beating, we keep His Sacred Blood flowing. . .from cell to cell, from soul to soul . . . His Blood is red . . . in black cells, yellow cells or white cells . . . the Blood is the same . . . it's His Blood." (Fr. John Myler) How can we have divisions? Can we divide our own body? Can we cut our own cells? Do not be the cause of divisions. Do not hate. Do not get into arguments about who is right and who is wrong. Love those who you do not like. Love those who are different than you. Your attitude, not your argument, will win unity. "People take their cues from attitudes, not from arguments; they object to manners, not ideas. Those on top have been expounding their ideas of unity and are evoking little response. The time has come to shift gears, to change the strategy. It is time to act and to set the example. If we fail, at least it is not for lack of trying. It is better to try and to fail, rather than to fail to try and forever experience the inestimable loss of what might have been." (Ninoy Aquino) Unity Prayer Crusades It's time to act. We crave for unity, but if we wait for this to fall from the sky, we will not like the results. ================================ 190 The Miracle of Damascus "The dice of fate has been rolled, and each of us has been assigned a role to play. Ours is to keep lighting the beaconlight of UNITY for those who have lost their way. Ours is to articulate the fervent hopes of a people who have suddenly lost their voices. Ours is to adopt the solid stance of courage in the face of seemingly hopeless odds so that hope, no matter how dim or distant, will never banish from sight." (Ninoy Aguino) It is time to act. Organize daily prayer in your homes. Then organize weekly prayer with your separated churches. Get your priests and bishops to authorize a prayer march or prayer outing every month with other religions, especially Catholic or Orthodox. Pray together. Send letters to all the pastors. Make posters, call radio stations, go door to door. Print pictures of Our Lady of Soufanieh and the messages. Pass around God's plan for Unity. Plan to have a massive UNITY PRAYER CURSADE once every year. Organize all the parishes in your city to attend, no matter what religion or faith. Get your bishops involved. Print posters. Choose a large location (park or stadium). Get pledge cards that promise to work and pray for UNITY. Set up a stage, microphone, loudspeaker system, banners, signs, and a large picture of Our Lady of Soufanich. Think out security, medical, and toilet problems. Plan the singing, the praying, and the speakers. Invite the media, the celebrities, the elders. Plan to have a concelebrated Mass if the bishops S will agree. Read out loud the messages of the Miracle of Damascus. And when you know you are going to have a good crowd of God's children, invite Mirna to come and pray with you. She wil1 come, for this is her mission, and she must complete her mission. TEACH GENERATIONS UNITY, LOVE, AND FAITH. GO AND PREACH TO THE WORLD, AND TELL THEM WITHOUT FEAR, THAT THEY HAVE TO WORK FOR UNITY. ================================ Organizing Towards Unity 191 Mary is giving us peace through Fatima. Let us give Her unity through Mirna. Say to Christ: "Here I come, Lord, because you called me." the publican ================================ SUPPLEMENT To First Edition On the feast of the apparitions, November 26, 1989, Mirna received the following message from Our Blessed Mother: MY CHILDREN, JESUS SAID TO PETER: 'YOU ARE THE ROCK, AND ON IT I SHALL BUILD MY CHURCH.' AND I SAY TO YOU NOW: 'YOU ARE THE HEART IN WHICH JESUS WILL BUILD HIS ONENESS.' I WANT YOU TO DEDICATE YOUR PRAYERS FOR PEACE FROM NOW UNTIL THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE RESURRECTION. On Holy Week of 1990 Mirna again received the stigmata of Christ. This time she received three wounds in the head from the crown of thorns. Each time the stigmata becomes more extensive because there is no unity. On Holy Saturday after the stigmata Christ appeared to Mirna (May 14, 1990). MY CHILDREN, YOU WILL TEACH GENERATIONS THE MEANING OF THE WORDS—UNITY, LOVE AND FAITH. I AM WITH YOU. BUT, MY DAUGHTER, YOU WILL NOT HEAR MY VOICE AGAIN, UNTIL THE FEAST HAS BEEN UNIFIED. This is a great warning; however, great opportunities are opening to the world. It is up to us. In 1973 the Coptic Church and the Roman Catholic Church agreed on the dual nature of Christ. This was the only thing that divided the two great Churches. 192 ================================ Supplement 193 In 1984 the Syrian Orthodox and Catholic Churches agreed on the same thing. All that remains between these Churches is the terminology, and then there will be unity. ================================ SUPPLEMENT March To Cyprus In February of 1991, the Orthodox and Catholic Churches of the world will meet in Cyprus. Most experts agree that they will walk away with unity of the calendar (one Easter). This is a start towards unity. But that is not enough. We want complete unity. We must make the noise now before this meeting in Cyprus. We must give to them all the encouragement that we can give. Face facts. The elders want this unity, but they are afraid of their people. They think that the people still have hatreds and will rebel if they unified. We must let them know this is not true. We must give to them all the pressure that we can give. We must let them know that we (the people) want this unity, that Heaven wants this unity, that Our Mother wants this unity, that Christ demands this unity. Let us march towards this unity with our candles to Our Lady. Let us light a candle so big that the bishops of the world, who will meet in Cyprus, will have no choice except to leave as one Body in Christ, with His Blood running from body to body, from soul to soul, from brother to brother. Then we will light a candle so bright the world will see the light of Christ and be converted. 194 ================================ SUPPLEMENT The Messengers of Unity Unity? The Messengers of Unity? Will we acomplish it? I don't know. I know God is doing His part. But as I watch the people pushing and shoving to get blessed with the oil, I see very few people who want to give anything to God. I see many who want God to give to them. "God will do it. Leave it up to God." Yes! God will do it. If we don't bring about the unity He wants, He will; but I don't think we will like His method. In the past, people read about miracles and were amazed. Some miracles were going on in their own time, but they had to travel thousands of miles just to see the spot of the miracle; the actual miracle, only a few would see. This time, this miracle, this work of God is coming to you. Sooner or later Mirna will come to your area. It is com- manded of her by God. Sooner or later you will have the opportunity to see a miracle for yourself. God is pouring out all these miracles for one (and e)nly one) reason: so that we will work for the unity of all the churches, the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. But what do I see? I see people shoving other people out of the way so they might be cured of a headache or a sore toe. I see people wanting to gobble up Mirna as their own possession and put her in a bottle to keep all to themselves. I see people going through great extremes (even getting mad) in order to have one moment with her. But I see very few who study the messages of Christ and His Mother to see what they must do. When Mirna is in town, the activity is great. Everyone is working and praying. 195 ================================ 196 The Miracle of Damascus When she leaves, only a handful are left to do the work God is demanding of us. God forbid! THERE IS NO GRACE IN A MIRACLE. Miracles are signs given by God to draw attention to what God is trying to tell us. If we don't ACT on His appeal (and in this case the appeal is for the unity of the Churches), we have gained nothing. For my part (in this work) I will continue to write and talk about unity. I will go anywhere, at any time, any place in the world (at my own expense) to speak to any group, large or small, about UNITY. Without ending in this UNITY of the Churches, God's miracles will not have produced the fruit for which they were given. We, who have read these messages and have seen these mira- cles, will have to answer to God for our lack of action. For this reason, I no longer care to see anymore miracles. I only care to work for the unity of the Churches. If you have anyone who wants to hear about the Miracle of Damascus and Our Lady's plea for Unity, or if you would like to have Mirna come to your area to pray for unity, write or call The Messengers of Unity. We will contact your bishop for authorization, and then we will send a team into your area to help you organize it. Work hard, work hard for a single faith in Christ, a single Church on Earth as it is in Heaven. For the Messengers of Unity in your area, call the 800 number on the back cover of this book or see our list in the Newsletter. If you also subscribe to the newsletter, you will recelve up-to-date information about the miracles, testimonials, the work of unity, where Mirna will be praying, and what each of us should be doing. You can become a distributor or even create a new center of unity for your area. You can organize unity prayers in your area. Call the toll free number and we will give you all you will need. We have organized these centers so that ================================ Supplement 197 no money is needed. You will not have to use one penny of your own money to start and run a center. It is critical that the churches promote this unity; therefore, we are always looking for churches that will have a small shrine of Our Lady of Soufanieh in the Church and who will sell the books and videos. They can make a profit for the church and charities; and at the same time, help Our, Lady bring about unity. Everything must have prayer first. Try always to have members of many different religions to pray with you for unity. Ask us about an ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY. Pray the prayers of the messages and the Rosary. If during these prayer sessions for unity, you have a miracle of oil or a cure (as often happens all over the world, even without Mirna being there), please ssend us a testimonial so that the name of God may be glorified. the publican INFORMATION ABOUT THE MIRACLE OF DAMASCUS THE MIRACLE OF DAMASCUS (Book) $17.00 each (All orders add $4.00 postage & handling.) THE MIRACLE OF DAMASCUS (Video)_The Set $74.00 (Set of Three 2-Hr. Films) (All orders add $6.00 postage & handling.) PART 1, 2 or 3--each film $30.00 (All orders add $3.00 postage & handling.) Ten or more sets--each set $52.50 (All orders add $6.00 postage & handling.) OUR LADY OF SOUFANIEH (Picture) FREE 12 monthly issues (16 pages in color, 8 x 11) Up-to-date information about the Miracle of Damascus, Mirna, the apparitions, the work of unity, Mirna's tours, testimonials, etc. Order from_ THE MESSENGERS OF UNITY 249 N. 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