Ok, thought I would share some of this great info with you all, it concerns the end of times .......a pilgrimage to Mount Athos....
Mount Athos for those that do not know of it, is a monastary for men in Greece!
According to tradition, the Virgin Mary with John the Evangelist, or their way to visit Lazarus in Cyprus, encountered a stormy sea that forced them
to temporarily seek refuge in the port which is now the Holy Monastery of Ivira.
The Virgin Mary, admiring the wild beauty of the place, asked God to give her the mountain as a present.
Then the voice of our Lord was heard saying:
"Let this place be your lot, your garden and your paradise, as well as a salvation, a haven for those who seek salvation".
Since then, Mount Athos is considered as "The Garden of the Virgin Mary".
On the 21st of August 1903 monks were giving alms at the Great Gates of Panteleimon Monastery. A novice, Gavriil, took a photograph. When he looked at
the developed picture he was amazed. On the silver plate was a figure which he hadn't seen, a figure of the Mother of God, humbly receiving a crust
of bread! Not long before that several ascetics had seen the Virgin in broad daylight. 95 years later the Russian monk Lazarus gave us this amazing
photograph as a gift.
According to legend, before the end of the world Athos too will descend into the maelstrom of passion.
The Iveron icon will leave the Holy Mount just as miraculously as it arrived.
This will be one of the signs of the impending Second Coming.
Iveron Monastery. The Gate-Keeper Icon is inside this church.
Today those old gates have been bricked up. Next to them is a small church, inside it the Iveron Icon. The church was empty when we entered. Anyone
may look at the miraculous image.
It differs from most of the copies which we've seen. On the chin something like a fresh bullet-hole is visible. On the neck there's a streamlet of
dark, congealed blood.
Holy Mother of God, save us!
In the neighboring church, also empty, hangs that very same "swinging lamp" -- motionless, thank God!
oag.ru...
Click on ''what's new on this site''
and go to Path to the Apocalypse Part III, Chapter 17: The Omega Point (Mt. Athos and the end of the world.)
It is very interesting reading......
[Edited on 12/29/2003 by helen670]
