One
time in Jerusalem, when I was in the city on business, a woman approached me
and asked me an unexpected question gingerly, at the same time apologizing:
“Why
did you become a nun?”
Smiling,
I decided to get out of it with a few words:
“God called
me and I was unable to turn down His love!”
To my
amazement, the woman liked the answer. But I couldn’t get out of it as she
asked me to talk in more detail in a café. I agreed, and she shared her story
with me over a cup of coffee. She told me how she came to believe in Jesus
Christ.
The
woman’s name was Rebecca. Living in the United States, she had a terrible car
accident, took a long time to recover and had to have several operations.
During that time her husband found another woman. Since they had no children,
she was now all alone and decided to move to Israel under the repatriation
program. In a new country, starting her life anew, she began to seek solace in
religion, attending classes on Judaism regularly.
Rebecca
was a diligent student, carefully studying the Old Testament books, Jewish
traditions and way of life. One day, while interpreting Isaiah chapter 53, she
had her first argument with a rabbi. She kept asking her questions over and
again, but he just answered in an agitated tone:
“I’m
not going to answer your question because it’s the type of question Christians
usually ask!”
This
was repeated several times, and the rabbi even began to drop hints, asking
whether Rebecca was a Christian.
In
such an amazing way, though Rebecca had never been interested in Christianity
before, after that remarkable day she began to read the Gospel. And here her
inquisitive mind asked a lot of questions again. She looked for all available
information on the net since there were no Christians among her acquaintances;
so, nearly falling off her feet in her search of answers, one day she cried out
to God:
“Lord,
let a Jew tell me about Jesus! Only then will I be able to believe in Him!”
A
couple of days later, Rebecca came to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, and at the
women’s section she noticed a woman who was praying fervently and crying
bitterly. Rebecca is a kind-hearted person, so she came nearer to the weeping
lady and tactfully asked her about the cause of her grief. And she heard the
following in reply:
“My
dear! I’m not crying for myself, but for poor lost Israel!”
And
her words about the Lord Who was crucified and rejected by the people of
Israel, about the amazing and fulfilled prophecies, and that salvation can only
be gained through faith in Him, poured into Rebecca’s moved heart. The woman
she met at the Western Wall turned out to be a Messianic Jewess sent from God,
but Rebecca did not get baptized until some time later in a Protestant
community. A couple years later, she joined the Anglican Church, concluding
that the Protestants she knew had distorted the Savior’s commandment that the
faithful participate in the Eucharist (cf. Mt. 26:26-28). It should be noted
that as a Protestant, and later as an Anglican, she would attend the Old and New
Testament study group several times a week.
It was
at that period that my first meeting with Rebecca took place. Her acquaintance
with our faith aroused great interest in her, and she immediately noticed that
the teaching of the (Orthodox) Church was much deeper than what she had studied
so far. But she point-blank rejected the veneration of the Theotokos and icons.
Nevertheless, our acquaintance developed into regular communication. One day
Rebecca phoned me and asked me straight off:
“Do
you pray to Mary, the Mother of Jesus?”
“Certainly.”
A
dispute broke out between us. I just had to take a deep breath and wait for the
right moment to change the subject. And then a thought appeared in my mind:
“Speak now!” But it is hard to carry on such a difficult dialogue over the
phone when you can’t see the person you are talking with. In addition, there
were also difficulties with the language because I can’t speak English
perfectly. What should I say? I decided to have a try…
“Rebecca,
was the Ark of the Covenant a great shrine in the Old Testament, or was only
what was inside it considered holy?”
“Yes,
of course, both the Ark of the Covenant and its contents were holy,” she
replied.
“How
can it be? Can a simple box—well, of course, a gilded one—be holy? After all,
this is real idolatry!” I continued my maneuver.
Rebecca
fell silent in perplexity.
“Listen,”
I went on. “The container in the Old Testament was sanctified by what was
inside it! Likewise, by bearing the Infant Christ in Her womb for nine months
the Most Pure Virgin was sanctified by His presence. After all, an unworthy
woman couldn’t have given birth to God!”
And
suddenly after these words I heard some incomprehensible sounds in the
receiver—at first sobbing, and then the woman just burst into tears. I got
scared. But next in the midst of these sobs I heard:
“Thank
you, mother! Thank you for saying this! I’ll pray to the Theotokos straight
away. I’ll pray to Her on my knees!”
At
that point our conversation was interrupted.
After
a while, Rebecca wanted to visit Gorny Convent as she was attracted by the
monastic life. Then I had to fulfil her longtime dream and show her my cell.
Seeing the many icons inside, Rebecca stood in the middle of the room and
looked in surprise at me, then at the icons alternately.
“Mother
Mariam,” she said confusedly. “Do you pray in front of the icons? And do you
kiss them?”
“Surely
I do! This cell is my little Paradise, and the icons are part and parcel of
it!”
After
these words, Rebecca came up nearer the icon corner and started scrutinizing
the icons. All of a sudden she saw a very small icon, took it into her hands
and asked:
“Who
is this?”
“It’s
St. Simeon the God-Receiver. As you see, he is holding the Infant Christ in his
arms.”
I was
already beginning to explain to her the symbolism of the icon, the special
language of color, gestures and objects depicted… But it turned out that she
didn’t need my explanations. Rebecca was standing, pressing the icon to her
heart, kissing it, and her face was shining like she had just found a priceless
treasure.
“Please,
mother,” I suddenly heard. “Give me this icon. I’ll pay you whatever the cost
and you can buy another one. I can’t leave this place without it!”
I had
to give her the icon, though it was also very dear to me—a gift from one fellow
nun.
It was
a great miracle of Elder Simeon. From that time on Rebecca began to venerate
icons and carried the icon of Elder Simeon throughout Jerusalem, showing it in
her circles. Through communication with Rebecca many people, including
Messianic Jews, began to see the reflection of the Gospel mystery in icons.
Nun
Mariam (Yurchuk)
A nun
of Gorny Convent, a guide and the author of travel guides to Jerusalem and the
Holy Land
Prepared
by Vladimir Basenkov
Translation
by Dmitry Lapa
Pravoslavie.ru
2/22/2021
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