Two miracles of St. Philoumenos the New Hieromartyr

St. Philoumenos the Cypriot, the New Hieromartyr of Jacob's Well. His scroll above reads the words of Christ: "And do not fear those who kill the body..." (http://apantaortodoxias.blogspot.com/2011/11/blog-post_7911.html)

  
Two miracles of St. Philoumenos the New Hieromartyr (amateur translation/summary)

After a recent radio program from the Station of the Metropolis of Piraeus of the life of St. Philoumenos, the station received many messages with personal miracles of the Saint for the faithful. May this be offered to the glory of Christ and His new Hieromartyr Philoumenos, who celebrates on November 29 (new calendar).

First letter from Xanthi

Regarding the righteous life and martyrdom of St. Philoumenos, I learned of it from the Monastery of St. David in Evia, from a hierodeacon from the Metropolis of Morphou. In reality I was struck by his life, and especially his terrible martyrdom. Later, I found myself in Cyprus for work reasons, where I learned first-hand about the wonders of his earthly life and his heavenly glory. In August 2008 I was in the Holy Land, and I of course visited the Well of Jacob and the newly-built Church of St. Photini, to which was translated the relics of St. Philoumenos from the Patriarchal School. There I entreated the Saint fervently to grant us a child, as we had been married for eight years without having yet conceived a child. In reality, the Saint hearkened to our prayers, and he appeared full of glory to my brother, a hierodeacon, who said: “The children, Apostolos and Elizabeth, should not worry, for the temptation will soon pass and they will soon conceive a child, though they will try to adopt a child.” Thus we continued to try to have a child, but in the summer of 2009, we tried to adopt. Our joy was indescribable! However, our Lord's will was different: suddenly the adoption agency stopped our application, as we had just moved to Greece, and because of this the managers in Cyprus froze the application. As you can see, our saddness was great, as we saw our dream moving away! But besides this, we did not loose our courage, and we continued to pray to St. Philoumenos to grant us a child.

In reality, the same year my wife conceived our little girl, who was born on November 6^th. It is worth noting that her due date was November 16^th, the day of the Saint's martyrdom on the old calendar, as it is celebrated in the Holy Lands. Of course, before our child was born by the will of God, my hierodeacon friend saw a vision in which the Saint appeared full of glory and revealed the birth of our child! He saw the baby crawling to the Well of Jacob, and await there to be born! Our little girl took the Saint's name—through the prayer of naming—and today is 3 weeks old. We unworthy ones are so blessed, through the intercessions of St. Philoumenos to our Lord Jesus Christ, to receive this heavenly blessing.”

A. and E. B. from Xanthi

Second letter, from Moschato

To the glory of God, and St. Philoumenos
I'm glad to have the opportunity to thank St. Philoumenos in this way. Let me share with you how I came to know this Saint.

We call upon him as “The Saint of Parking”, and I'll explain why.

It was the winter of 2008 when I was in my car in the area of Old Phalerou, and tried to find parking. I had a very important business meeting at 7, and I had tried for 20 minutes to find parking, and it was 6:55. On the radio I was listening to the Church of Piraeus talk about some martyr who was killed in Jerusalem, and due to my agony, I did not give care to the name of the new martyr, whether it was Philemon or Philoumenos. Loosing hope, I then said: “O Saint Philoumenos or Philemon, I didn't understand your name, but find me parking, and from now on I will honor you and seek you out.” I did not finish this phrase when miraculously I found a parking spot, and left at that instant for my work. I glorified the Saint, and could not believe my eyes.

Of course this could seem comical, that I connect the Saint with parking, but in Athens especially, the issue of parking is a great difficulty in the lives of people.

From then on my family calls upon the Saint for parking, and unbelievably quickly he works wonders.

Another time I had a rehearsal at the Greek Odeion in Exarcheia, and as I was afraid of that area (this was at the time of a famous murder) my friend and I entreated the Saint to find parking close to the Odeion. We could not believe that we found a spot right outside the door, and my friend was amazed, having never seen anything like this before. I told her about the Saint, and she was amazed, and the next day when we had another practice, she confirmed this. The same thing occurred, and so I said to her: “And what do you have to say now?” Then she began to ask me more about this Saint.

When I told my family about the Saint (I am married in Athens-Moschato, and my parents live in Corfu), all of them believed, with the exception of my father, who doubted until the following incident. It was Holy Friday 2009, and my father had to descend to the city for the Epitaphio to lead the church choir. During this period on Corfu, the area is almost impassible. He left early, but he was looking for 40 minutes for parking, to no avail. At that point he thought, “Why don't call upon that Saint to help me, as I am so worried right now?” And as soon as he finished this thought, he immediately found a spot in front of him! He related this to us with joy.

I will tell you one more incident. I had gone to Corfu to the monastery of St. Athanasios, and I spoke to the sister who was the director of the bookstore about St. Philoumenos, whom she had never heard of. I told her about a book with his life that I had found in Athens, so she would order it for the monastery. Later the same nun related to me: “I had descended to the city with some difficulty by the car of a woman who was helping the monastery. We tried to find parking for a long time, and being without any success, I told the woman: 'let us call upon St. Philoumenos', though we continued to not find a spot. Then I said: 'Help us find this, my Saint, and tomorrow I will go order the book with your life for the monastery's bookstore.' I said these words out loud, and at that instant, we found parking. We were struck by the Saint's speed, and we glorified God.”

So as to not go on and on with similar stories, I will say that there is much to relate. Of course beyond the subject of “parking”, the Saint has helped us many times when we call upon him.

If you decide to distribute some of these stories that I have related, I would rejoice, for thus the world could learn more about this new Saint, who helps us so much in our everyday lives!!

May we all have his blessing.
E.K., age 30, Moschato
(http://opougis.blogspot.com/2010/11/mail.html)
  
For the life of St. Philoumenos the New Hieromartyr, see: http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2009/09/st-philoumenos-new-hieromartyr-of.html.
  
For the Metropolitan of Morphou discussing numerous miracles of St. Philoumenos (in Greek), see: http://apantaortodoxias.blogspot.com/2011/11/blog-post_29.html.
  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!