The Miraculous weeping icon of Saint Irene Chrysovalantou
is a special part of The Sacred
Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery. Whether just
stopping by in the morning before work for a prayer, or
traveling from places far and near to fullfill a tama,
hundreds are those that visit the monastery each day to pay
tribute to this blessed holy mother.
The icon was painted in 1921 by an Orthodox monk on Mount
Athos, Greece. Athos is also referred to as “The Holy
Mountain”. It’s home to a semi-autonomous all-male monastic
community of twenty monasteries composed of 1,500
inhabitants. The monasteries on Athos operate in the same
manner that they have for over one thousand years. The monks
keep Byzantine time, use the Julian calendar and spend their
days in isolation, mystique and contemplation praying and
fasting. It’s no wonder so many miraculous icons have
originated from this holy place.
The icon of Saint Irene Chrysovalantou was brought to the
United States of America in 1972 by Metropolitan Paisios of
Tyana, abbot of the current Patriarchal Monastery in Astoria
who also served time as a monk on Mount Athos for many
years. Metropolitan Paisios’s dream was to found a new
monastery in the heart of Astoria dedicated to Saint Irene,
the most gracious abbess of a very famous monastery during
the 9th century AD called Chrysovalantou.
The fame of the monastery of Chrysovalantou reached the
corners of the earth during the tenure of this most gracious and all-holy
abbess, Irene of Cappadocia. She was a beautiful, noble and
very wealthy young woman. In fact, such was her beauty and
nobility that she was actually sought out to
marry the King! But she only knew one bridegroom. Instead,
she cut her long blonde hair, gave
all she had to the poor, freed all of her slaves and fled to
a monastery (Chrysovalantou) so that she may devote her life to
Jesus Christ.
Miracles, sick people healed, demons vanishing, souls saved
and more miracles. Such dramatic events were all the more
common at Chrysovalantou during this Holy abbess’s tenure as
she relentlessly guided her spiritual daughters to
paradise. She prayed and she fasted...she fasted and she
prayed. Days and nights she went on praying without stopping
for food or water! Yet,
the grace of our Lord was such on this holy woman that even when Saint Irene Chrysovalantou eventually passed away
at the age of 103(!), unheard of at the time, she was as beautiful as ever and barely
looked as if she had aged at all. But her miraculous
interventions had only begun.
Metropolitan Paisios of Tyana knew it
all too well and in 1972, with
the icon of the Most Gracious Abbess of Chrysovalantou as
his guide, he realized his dream as the Sacred Patriarchal
and Stavropegial Orthodox Monastery of Saint Irene
Chrysovalantou was founded in the heart of Astoria. As
Irene’s pure life and her many miracles touched the lives of
many who sought her help the monastery in Astoria rapidly
gained fame and established itself as a center of orthodox
faith.
Many come to her holy shrine
in Astoria asking our holy mother to help with life's
hardship, to eat of her miraculous apple. Many of those same
people go on to give amazing testimonials about how our holy
mother helped them overcome the hardship. Since its
founding, hundreds of
letters have poured into the monastery from faithful thanking
Irene for her miraculous interventions.
Then came 1990. Yet another year marked with human blood.
The United States of America was gearing up for the Gulf
War. The icon of Saint Irene Chrysovalantou was on loan to
The Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Athanasios and John the
Baptist. The day was October 17th…and it happened…glorified be
Thy name.
Tears. Our most gracious abbess wept as tears rolled
down her icon.
The miraculous icon was returned to the monastery in New
York but the Gulf war continued. Again the icon was seen
weeping.
Miracles
and Testimonials continue to this day.
