On Bright Week, 1991, an acquaintance, a Greek Orthodox woman, Cleopatra Nargais, phoned to tell me that her mother, Magdalena Petropoulos, was in the hospital. She had been there already two months after a heart operation. She was no longer able to breathe on her own and her kidneys were no longer functioning. Day by day she was failing. Both the doctors and the Greek priest told her daughter that there was scant hope for her mother's recovery.
I offered Cleopatra some oil from the sepulchre of our beloved Vladika John. She was overjoyed. I explained that she should anoint her mother's head, heart, lungs and kidneys in the
form of a cross, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, with a prayer to Vladika John for help.
When on Bright Saturday Cleopatra anointed her mother with the oil, the latter began to cry. That evening the nurse told Cleopatra that when she went to turn Magdalena on her side, the sick woman for the first time grabbed the crossbar over the hospital bed and tried to help the nurses.
On Sunday I visited Magdalena in the hospital and likewise anointed her with oil from the sepulchre. Again she cried and asked Archbishop John's help. A week has gone by since Magdalena began to be anointed with oil from the sepulchre. She is already sitting up and for the first time in two months is beginning to eat.
The doctors and nurses in the hospital cannot understand what happened; they were already preparing the family for the worst, when suddenly, unexpectedly, Magdalena's health began to improve.
This change in Magdalena's condition in connection with the anointing affected her entire family. Even her son asked for some oil to anoint his head, in hopes of relieving his severe headaches.
I pray that Vladika John continue to help and heal Magdalena completely.
In June 1988 my son, Alexander Logunov, was informed that he was being sent on assignment to the Persian Gulf for six months. I was very anxious; the situation in that part of the world was so volatile. As a mother I could only pray and commit everything into God's hands. When I was in Vladika John's sepulchre I prayed to Vladika and lit a candle. There I spoke to the Troyans, who placed a commemoration slip with my son's name under Vladika's mitre, where it stayed until my son's return home.
On the eve of his departure on an aircraft carrier, I prayed to Vladika John that he protect my son. That night I dreamed that Vladika John was standing on the nose of the carrier, covering it with his mantia…
My son returned safely. On the carrier everyone spoke about what an unusual expedition it was. Despite the fact that there were 6,000 men aboard, there were no accidents: no one was wounded and no one drowned at sea. I believe that it was through the prayers of Vladika John that my son and his carrier's entire crew returned home safely.
Marina Logunov, Sacramento, CA