In the last month of the ecclesiastical year, saints who quickly intercede for the healing of diseases are remembered. Among them are four Romanian saints, for whom many believers from our country, but also from abroad, testify.

Saint Theodora of Thessaloniki – August 3

Saint Theodora was born in Aegina in the 9th century, but following a Saracen invasion, she and her family relocated to Thessaloniki. She was married and had three children, but only one daughter survived, and she became a nun of holy life named Theopisti.

After becoming a widow, Theodora entered a monastery dedicated to Saint Stephen, where she lived for 55 years in obedience and strict asceticism.

Her daughter, Theopisti, later joined the monastery where her mother was. Observing the closeness between the mother and daughter, the abbess gave them the obedience to maintain silence towards one another for 15 years.

In her old age, Saint Theodora cared for the abbess who had fallen ill and become bedridden.

At the age of 75, Saint Theodora herself became ill and departed to the Lord. Her face, marked by the hardships she had endured, suddenly became joyful and radiant. Additionally, her body emitted a pleasant fragrance, and the sick were healed when they approached her coffin.

On the eleventh day after her repose, oil began to flow continuously from the lamp burning above her grave, serving as another blessing from the saint for the faithful.

Saint Theodora reposed in the Lord on August 29, but since it was a significant feast day, her commemoration was moved to August 3, alongside her daughter, Saint Theopisti.

Her holy relics are located in the monastery bearing her name in Thessaloniki.

Saint John Jacob of Neamț the New Chozebite – August 5

Saint John was born in Botoșani County in 1913. Orphaned at a young age, he was raised by his devout grandmother, who instilled in him a love for the church.

Known as Ilie in his lay life, he was a quiet and studious child who felt the call to monasticism from an early age. He entered Neamț Monastery as a novice, where his initial duties included working in the infirmary and library. He lovingly cared for the elderly and sick monks and assisted the monastery’s pharmacist, Monk Iov Burlacu.

Compelled to complete his military service, the young novice was assigned to work in the infirmary, where he tended to the sick and provided them with spiritual strength.

He then became a monk at Saint Sava Monastery in the Holy Land. One of his many duties there was again in the infirmary. He was sought after by all the sick fathers in the monastery, as well as by pilgrims. Over time, Bedouins also began to seek his care, as he would bandage their wounds, and they called him “Father John the Romanian.” Thus, he became known as the “physician of the monastery.”

After a while, feeling exhausted and yearning for solitude, he received a blessing to withdraw into the desert, where he had as a disciple Father Ioanichie Pârâială, a monk from Buzău. After being ordained to the priesthood and serving a short period as abbot, Saint John withdrew again to a cave near Saint George’s Monastery of Chozeba. A lavra formed around him, eventually numbering over 1,500 monks.

At one point, Father Ioanichie developed bone tuberculosis following an infection in his right hand. Doctors in Jerusalem determined that his hand would have to be amputated, but Saint John washed the wound with herbal teas, bandaged it, and it healed. Sometime later, Father Ioanichie broke the same hand, which Saint John healed for the second time.

On another occasion, a monk was ill and discouraged, so the saint wrote him a few verses and encouraged him not to despair. The ailing monk lived for another two years.

After the saint’s passing, Father Ioanichie witnessed many miracles performed at his spiritual father’s reliquary.

Many healings of the demon-possessed have been recorded at the first Romanian skete named after him, located in Pojorâta.

The saint’s incorrupt relics are housed in the church dedicated to Saint Stephen at Saint George’s Monastery in the Chozeba desert.

Saint Theodora of Sihla – August 7

Saint Theodora was born in the mid-17th century in the village of Vânători-Neamț. Raised in a devout family, she later married a young man who was equally faithful and felt a calling to the monastic life like her.

She embraced monastic life at Vărzărești Skete in Vrancea while her husband joined Poiana Mărului Skete. Due to the Turkish invasions, the nuns retreated to the Vrancea Mountains, and later, the saint returned to her native area and became a hermit near Sihla Skete.

The saint is known for her strict asceticism and for the miraculous way in which she not only survived in the wilderness but also reached high spiritual achievements.

Her relics were taken to Ukraine in the 19th century, but the cave where she lived remains a place filled with grace, where many believers come to seek the saint’s prayers and help.

Numerous contemporary testimonies from the monks of Sihla and people who have received Saint Theodora’s help exist.

They have witnessed miraculous healings from pneumonia, brain tumours, kidney diseases, ear ailments, and infertility.

Near the cave is a hollow in a rock where the water the saint drank would gather. Some sick people drink this water with great devotion, and it has been found to have healing properties.

Saint Dometius the Persian – August 7

St. Dometius was born in Persia and was a pagan, but he was baptised after meeting a young Christian. He was a monk in a monastery in Nisibis (the current territory of Turkey).

After a while, he withdrew to a quiet life with an abbot who is said to have eaten nothing cooked for 60 years.

He ordained him a deacon, but Saint Dometius withdrew to a cave in an isolated mountain when he wanted to make him a priest. He reached such perfection that he healed the sick through fasting, prayer and vigils.

Saint Dometius was martyred in 363, along with two disciples, after Emperor Julian the Apostate sent his soldiers who imprisoned the three ascetics in a cave alive.

Saint Theodosius the New, Healer of Peloponnesus – August 7 

Saint Theodosius was born in Athens in 862 into a Christian family. He decided to become a monk, distributed his wealth to the poor, and retreated to a small distance from the city.

Because he was sought by many for spiritual guidance, he fled to Argos.

Saint Theodosius built a church to honour Saint John the Baptist after the latter miraculously appeared to him.

Saint Theodosius was given the nickname “Healer” because God had bestowed upon him the gift of healing the sick.

He died at an old age and was buried near the church he had built in honour of Saint John the Baptist.

Saint Myron the Wonderworker, bishop of Crete – August 8 

Twenty kilometres from the capital of Crete, Heraklion, lies a village named after Saint Myron. Nestled among vineyards and olive groves, this settlement is the holy wonderworker’s birthplace and final resting place.

St Myron was born around 250 into a Christian family. He was married and lived a life full of virtues, notably kindness. On one occasion, he encountered some thieves who could not lift their sacks of grain, so the saint helped them and forgave them, asking them to give up such deeds.

After his wife’s death, he was ordained a priest and consequently a bishop.

His life includes several miracles, such as stopping the flow of a river to prevent flooding and killing a dragon.

The church complex in the Cretan village also contains the cave where the saint retreated until his death at the age of over 100.

Water gathers in a hollow in the saint’s cave, which the locals call “Saint Myron’s Healing Spring.” At his icon in the chapel that incorporates the cave, believers leave silver plaques as testimonies of the help they received.

His tomb and holy relics were found 16 centuries after his blessed repose on May 12, 2014.

A fragment of his relics is located at Patriarch Miron Parish in Bucharest.

Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk – August 13

Saint Tikhon, born Timofey in 1724 in Russia, was a bishop and a theologian known for his writings. He is surnamed the “Golden Mouth of Russia” for his oratorical talent.

As part of his mission as a bishop, he wrote numerous books for both clergy and laity, established a seminary, and took care of churches. He eliminated pagan customs from communities and initiated missionary commissions that brought adherents of various sects back to Orthodoxy.

Due to his frail health, he withdrew from active ministry and eventually settled at a monastery dedicated to the Mother of God in Zadonsk. There, he delved deeper into prayer and study and continued to write.

Throughout his life, he experienced poverty, the loss of loved ones, the scorn of people, and loneliness. However, he turned to God, who transformed his pain into peace and gentleness of heart. His experience of pain and deliverance from it is shared in the advice found in his books. Those suffering from depression and sadness often seek the help of Saint Tikhon.

Even during his lifetime, the saint was known for his gift of prophecy and working miracles. He healed one of his disciples from a severe illness by saying, “Go, and may God have mercy on you.”

Saint Tikhon reposed in the Lord at the age of 59, and his relics were discovered in 1845.

Saint Joseph of Văratec – August 16 

Saint Joseph was born in Transylvania around 1750. Due to the oppression of the Uniate Church, he and his parents moved to Moldavia.

He entered monastic life at Dragomirna Monastery, where he was guided by Saint Paisius Velichkovsky of Neamț. Saint Joseph became a spiritually advanced hieromonk and eventually mentored several communities of monks and nuns.

After 1785, he was assigned the task of establishing Văratec Monastery with his disciples Olimpiada and Nazaria from Durău Hermitage.

He founded the monastery’s first two churches and continued to guide numerous hermits in the Neamț Mountains. He also lived as a hermit in these areas, which still bear his name: “Joseph’s Glade,” “Joseph’s Creek,” and “Joseph’s Cells.”

For his holy life, God blessed him with the gift of performing miracles and expelling unclean spirits. Through his prayers, many Christians received healing from spiritual and physical ailments. His disciples, including Hieromonk Irinarh Rosetti, testified to the help the saint provided to the sick.

Today, many believers seeking help and healing visit Văratec Monastery, where his relics are enshrined. These relics were discovered in 2013.

Holy Unmercenary Physician Diomedes – August 16 

Saint Diomedes is commemorated in the prayers of the Sacrament of Holy Unction as one of the unmercenary physicians. He was a Christian doctor born in Tarsus of Cilicia and lived during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (3rd – 4th centuries).

He healed people both physically and spiritually by converting many to Christianity. He travelled to preach the Gospel and was arrested by the emperor’s soldiers when he reached the city of Nicaea. While he was praying, he surrendered his soul to the Lord. Some sources mention that the saint died before he could be arrested.

As proof of completing their mission, the soldiers cut off his head to present to the emperor, but they were struck blind immediately. Diocletian ordered them to return the head, and the soldiers regained their sight and believed in Christ.

On August 16, 1728, the Danish navigator Vitus Bering discovered two islands between the Pacific and Arctic Oceans and named them after Saint Diomedes, as it was his feast day. The Diomede Islands are now divided by the Russian-American border, which also coincides with the International Date Line.

Saint George the Pilgrim – August 17

Saint George the Pilgrim, also known as Grandpa Gheorghe Lazăr, was born in 1846 in the village of Șugag, Alba County, Romania. From a young age, he showed an inclination towards reading the Psalter, fasting, and a deep love for the Church.

He was married and had children, but after 14 years of family life, with his wife’s consent, he began his pilgrimages across the world.

Pilgrimages and Spiritual Journey

• Holy Land: He travelled to the Holy Land, where he received a blessing from a hermit to live a life of fasting and prayer as a layman to awaken faith among people.
• Mount Athos: He later went to Mount Athos and eventually settled in Piatra Neamț, Romania.
• Piatra Neamț: Starting in 1895, he was given a cell in the bell tower of the St. John Church. He spent his nights in long prayers inside the church and walked the streets during the day, singing psalms.

Life in Piatra Neamț

As he walked through the city, people would call out to him with their needs, saying, “Grandpa George, my daughter is sick, pray for her!”

During his lifetime, he was known to have the gift of performing miracles. A nobleman even provided him with rooms where the sick could come to be healed by his reading of the Psalter.

Father Dumitru Stăniloae spoke about Grandpa Gheorghe Lazăr and others like him, saying that this category of chosen individuals “practices a service of love for all people and often receives the gift of healing.”

His repose and legacy

Saint George reposed in the Lord in 1916 in Piatra Neamț. Miraculously, his body was laid to rest in the crypt of Văratec Monastery. Even before his canonization, nuns and believers would descend into the crypt to pray to him. His renowned Psalter is still kept there.

The reliquary containing his holy relics is now housed in the monastery church and continues to aid those who seek his intercession.

Saint Alexander of Svir – August 30 

Saint Alexander is the only known modern saint to whom the Holy Trinity has appeared. For this reason, he is also called the “Abraham of the New Testament.”

He was born in the 15th century in northern Russia into a devout family. He entered monasticism at Valaam Monastery, where he lived a life of severe asceticism. The cave in which he lived is still preserved today.

After being tonsured as a monk and advancing spiritually, God called him to establish a monastery on the shore of a lake near the Svir River, which is why the saint is known by this name. This work, carried out over many years, was accompanied by numerous trials and hardships. The saint experienced illness but also miraculous healing.

Over time, monks gathered around him, and the saint was ordained a priest and installed as abbot. He reposed in the Lord on August 30, 1533, at the age of 85, and, according to his wish, his body was buried in the wilderness, not in the monastery.

The second uncovering of his holy relics occurred in 1996 when the monastery he founded was reopened. His relics are myrrh-streaming, and many sick people are healed through them. Healings from infertility, paralysis, cancer, tuberculosis, and blindness are recorded online and in books.

Read also our selection of holy healers from the previous month.

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