Does Anyone Have Any Information What happened to the Brother Jose Myrrh Streamining Iviron Portatissa? - part 1

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The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist,
Washington, D.C.

Regarding the Death of Brother Joseph, Curator of the Iveron
Icon

The following article is reprinted from the 15/28 December
1997 issue of Orthodox Russia

"Fear not, little flock┘" These words, directed to all Orthodox Christians
today have a special significance for us. Fear
not, little flock, those who in the past year took from the Church the
Hebron Monastery. Fear not those who in St.
Petersburg killed Fr. Alexander Zharkov and in Athens killed brother Joseph,
curator of the Iveron Myrrh-streaming Icon.
Fear not, little flock, persecution and oppression, for the Lord, your
Shepherd will not abandon you! Rather, little flock, be
afraid of losing love towards God and towards your neighbor, be afraid of
becoming embittered, beginning to repay evil
with evil. Let us fear this, for thereby we may imperceptibly relinquish the
spirit of Christ.

And who will come to our defense? Let us consider: Why does the Lord allow
us to experience sorrows and
persecutions? Is it not our own fault? The words of Priest Alexander
Iwascewicz are a just reminder to all of us. Regarding
the tragic death of brother Joseph and the subsequent disappearance of our
Protectress, the Iveron Myrrh-streaming Icon,
Fr. Alexander wrote: " We must repent and ask forgiveness for this great
loss┘. We have lost control of ourselves, we
have fallen into quarreling with one another, at times we have been united
only by hatred. Even if it is hatred for the bad
and unjust, it is still ultimately hatred, and not love in Christ, that
unites us. There are difficulties and disagreements in many
of our parishes. Some parishioners do not come to church because they do not
want to meet certain parishioners. Brothers
and sisters, whole families bear some ancient grudges within their bosoms┘."
It is a fact that there are comparable
difficulties in the monasteries and even among the clergy. Why then are we
surprised by the sorrows which the Lord sends
us as calls to repentance. Let us not accuse anyone. Let us instead turn the
fire of accusation against ourselves. If
repentance does not become law for us, we will have to drink of a cup of
such sorrows as we in our complacency cannot
now even imagine. [Note: This article was written before the St. Nicholas
Cathedral in Montreal burned down - Ed.]
Today Orthodox Christians living in the West apparently face no threat, but
let us remember the lesson of Russia: Just one
year before the 1917 revolution, almost no one could imagine a threat
hanging over the Church. In June 1917, Bolshevik
accession to power seemed impossible. Yet, In January 1918, only a few
months after the revolution, the Soviet People▓s
Committee issued a "decree regarding freedom of conscience," by which the
Russian Orthodox Church lost all of Her
historical legal and economic rights. Lest we forget: a similar unexpected
turn of events could well happen in our times.

Still, despite all our sins, the Lord continues to comfort us with repeated
signs of His love. We all remember the
appearance during the summer of 1997 of a new Myrrh-streaming Iveron Icon in
Brazil. In Michigan City, Indiana, the
Icon of the Holy Hierarch Nicholas continues to stream myrrh; this icon
appeared in the Church of St. George in
December 1996, on the very day on which he is celebrated. However, the more
signs given to us, the more we will have to
answer for to the Most-glorious Judge should we not bring him the fruits of
our repentance. The Kingdom of Heaven is
promised to the little flock. Will we be among Christ▓s chosen sheep? To a
great extent, this depends upon us.

During one of his visits to our parish, Joseph promised to give matushka
Maria Potapov a relic of her heavenly patron, the Venerable
St. Mary of Egypt. However, his martyrdom prevented him from fulfilling that
promise.

Among the many letters received in response to our publication in Parish
Life of the accounts of Joseph▓s death and the Heavenly signs
which followed, one letter came from an American named John File. Here are
excerpts from that letter.

"Today a friend of mine gave me a copy of the January "Parish Life." It
caused my heart to rejoice, reading about the
miracles which are manifesting the sanctity of our beloved Brother Jose. I
only saw him once with the Icon┘3 ? years
ago, when my friend Michael and I spent two weeks in Mahopac, repairing the
roof of the Church after the fire, but I have
heard much about him from my friend Claude Lopez, in Switzerland, who was a
dear friend of his┘. When I received
your "Parish Life" today, I called Claude, although it was the middle of the
night┘. I Couldn't wait to inform him of the
joyous news [of the appearance of the Heavenly signs]. He was overwhelmed
with heavenly joy. I am sure that he'll
call┘Vladika Ambroise who will also rejoice, as well as all the pious
Orthodox people in France and Switzerland, who
will learn of these wondrous consolations┘!

Out of gratitude for the joy your recounting of these miracles brought to
me, I am enclosing a small but precious gift for
you. It is a small┘ relic of Our Holy Mother, St. Mary of Egypt - a piece of
bone from ┘a tibia that I received nine years
abo. It was taken from the Roman Church of S. Pietro in Po, in Cremona,
Italy. A portion of her relics was taken there,
having been stolen from the Monastery of St. Zosima ┘ two miles from
Jericho, during the Latin occupation of Palestine
during the Crusades┘.

It is noteworthy that the author of this letter did not know that St Mary of
Egypt was matushka▓s heavenly patron, nor that Joseph had
promised her a piece of her relics.

(Parish Life March 1998)

The above was taken form the Synod web site. I would dearly love ot know
what has happened to the dear to us all Ikon of the Portatissa that Brother
Jose carried. I had heard form one person that he did not take it with him
to Greece, from another that his bishop told him not to take it on that
trip, from a third that the will would be read after his passing and then
all would find about about the ikon, form a fifth that the ikon was in
Montreal, and that it was safe because it was not being kept in the church
when the church went ablaze, that the ikon was lost in the church fire (but
if so, why was no one informed of its happy existence when it was known so
many were praying for its recovery as a legacy of Brother Jose's work?), and
finally, from one of the previous sources that the Church in Montreal had
the ikon all along and that certain parties, Jane Fonda among them, had
attempted to purchase the ikon from the Synod. This last I was told PRIOR
to the fire. Also, I emailed to the Sestrichestvo to ask them kindly about
the status of the ikon, that many of us in Washington were worried about it,
that one of us had had continuous visions that it was not safe and that it
was needed by the Church.

Now I am looking at the portrait of Brother Jose and the icon and I am still
praying over the ikon and Church unity. I think this is especially
important as Brother Jose was in the Synod and yet he was both fond of and
murdered in Greece and it was in Greece that he was originally given the
ikon. If anyone has knowledge of where the ikon is, please speak and know
that ordinary Orthodox Christians still pray for its return to the
glorification of God's Temple.

Love to all ,

Galina

P.S. With the ikon in jeapardy, why has no photograph of teh ikon been
placed on the websites of the Church? Even I have no real photograph of it,
only the small image of it with Brother Jose that I amn gave me in Church on
Christmas Eve , walking up to me and saying that he knew I would want it
although I had not asked him. Later I asked and received one other of his
photos for a child of mine. We were that night before that service started
taking turns reading a book of inofrmation and stories connected with
Brother Jose and the icon. And obviously there is still interest in this
becuase when one click s on March2 on the Saint John the Baptist webpage
there is an update story.

In the next part of this, I will put an HTML of the original Portatissa for
all to see, to remind them of it, although this is the one form Athos and
not the one form Father Jose and the Icon House.

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>

The above was taken from the Synod web site. I would dearly love ot know

what has happened to the dear to us all Ikon of the Portatissa that Brother

Jose carried. I had heard from one person that he did not take it with him

to Greece, from another that his bishop told him not to take it on that
trip, from a third that the will would be read after his passing and then

all would find about about the ikon, from a fifth that the ikon was in

Montreal, and that it was safe because it was not being kept in the church
when the church went ablaze, that the ikon was lost in the church fire (but
if so, why was no one informed of its happy existence when it was known so
many were praying for its recovery as a legacy of Brother Jose's work?), and
finally, from one of the previous sources that the Church in Montreal had
the ikon all along and that certain parties, Jane Fonda among them, had
attempted to purchase the ikon from the Synod. This last I was told PRIOR
to the fire. Also, I emailed to the Sestrichestvo to ask them kindly about
the status of the ikon, that many of us in Washington were worried about it,
that one of us had had continuous visions that it was not safe and that it
was needed by the Church.

Now I am looking at the portrait of Brother Jose and the icon and I am still
praying over the ikon and Church unity. I think this is especially
important as Brother Jose was in the Synod and yet he was both fond of and
murdered in Greece and it was in Greece that he was originally given the
ikon. If anyone has knowledge of where the ikon is, please speak and know
that ordinary Orthodox Christians still pray for its return to the
glorification of God's Temple.

Love to all ,

Galina

P.S. With the ikon in jeopardy, why has no photograph of the ikon been
placed on the web sites of the Church? Even I have no real photograph of it,
only the small image of it with Brother Jose that I man gave me in Church on

Christmas Eve , walking up to me and saying that he knew I would want it
although I had not asked him. Later I asked and received one other of his
photos for a child of mine. We were that night before that service started

taking turns reading a book of information and stories connected with

Brother Jose and the icon. And obviously there is still interest in this

becuase when one click s on March 2 on the Saint John the Baptist web page

there is an update story.

In the next part of this, I will put an HTML of the original Portatissa for
all to see, to remind them of it, although this is the one form Athos and

not the one from Father Jose and the Icon House.