Myrrh-streaming Miracle in Mindanao

On November, 13, in the church of St Seraphim of Sarov (Makalangot, North Cotabato), after evening prayers, parishioners found drops like oil on 4 icons: the Savior, the Holy Virgin, St Joasaph* of Belgorod and St Tatiana. At first they thought it was water and wiped them off, but next morning drops appeared again. Not knowing anything about the miracle of myrrh-streaming icons, the parishioners realized that something wonderful was happening, and invited Deacon Nicholas Salgado and Priest Moses Cahilig . The clergy carefully checked the icons and came to the conclusion that these drops could not have appeared randomly or from people.

After that, they carefully collected the myrrh from the icons and reported the incident to Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi. Having studied the phenomenon, Vladyka said that this is “a Miracle of God, the Lord testifies that He is with us.”

Myrrh-streaming is the appearance on an icon or Holy relics of a light oily liquid of protein composition, often emitting a sweet fragrance. The icons themselves can even be paper, as happened in our case. Note that the temple in Makalangot is the only one in the Philippines consecrated by a Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church (Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi.)

*Saint Joasaph of Belgorod (1705-1754) is one of the few saints of God whose relics and even Episcopal vestments are completely incorrupt. They are located in the Cathedral of Belgorod.

Update: Dec. 16

The myrrh-streaming at Makalangot has been continuing already for one month; now all icons in the church are streaming!

The Secretary of the diocese, Hieromonk Korniliy, has visited the temple of St. Seraphim of Sarov and has witnessed the miracle and photographed it. After careful examination, he found that the drops of the Myrrh on the icons could not have appeared from natural causes. Together with Priest Moses Cahilig and Deacon Nicholas Salgado, Fr. Korniliy performed a special prayer service.

Then he examined the church again and found that droplets began to appear on the icons, where they were not present at the first inspection. After a while, these droplets became larger and began to form into rivulets, and new droplets also began to appear. This is a quite rare miracle and it’s wonderful that it is taking place in the Philippines.

We thank God for giving us such a spectacular sign of His presence!