I was driving with my sister when an oncoming car driven by a young man who was drunk hit us with considerable force, impacting the door where my sister was sitting. An ambulance rushed her to the hospital, where it was discovered that she had a punctured lung and a broken rib. She was in great pain.
The first time Vladika John visited my sister, her face was swollen like a pillow so that her eyes were not even visible, but she was conscious. When she was told that Vladika had come, she opened her eyelid with her finger and, seeing his face, took his hand and kissed it. She was unable to talk, as she had an incision in her throat. Tears of happiness flowed from the fleshy crevices which concealed her eyes. Vladika John visited my sister many times afterwards and she began to improve.
One day Vladika came to the hospital and as soon as he entered the ward, without having spoken to anyone, said to us, "Musya is in a very bad state." He went to her bed, pulled the curtain and prayed there for a long time. While he was still praying two doctors approached us and I asked them, "How serious is my sister's condition? Should we call her daughter to come from Canada?" (We hadn't told her daughter that her mother had been in a car accident in order not to worry her.) "Whether or not you call her relatives," replied the doctors, "is up to you; we can't guarantee that your sister will live until morning."
Glory to God, she not only lived until morning but recovered completely and returned to Canada. My sister and I believe that she was saved through the prayers of Vladika John.
On the anniversary of Vladika John's repose, a pious woman came up to me in church and told me of an interesting incident.
One day she was in church. Vladika John was serving. The service seemed to her to be very long. Feeling tired, she thought to herself, "Such a long service: couldn't Vladika shorten it a bit?" But she continued to stand patiently. At the end of the service, when she went up to kiss the Cross, Vladika said to her, "If you cannot stand for a long time and your legs hurt, you may sit or go home, since your apartment is close by." Besides being rather embarrassed, the woman was astonished that Vladika was able to read her thoughts.
Anna Sheveleva, San Francisco