{"id":1065,"date":"2012-09-15T11:40:28","date_gmt":"2012-09-15T18:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orthodoxnet.com\/blog\/?p=1065"},"modified":"2020-06-09T12:08:14","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T19:08:14","slug":"miraculous-dove-blesses-the-gospel-and-the-shepherd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orthodoxnet.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/miraculous-dove-blesses-the-gospel-and-the-shepherd\/","title":{"rendered":"Miraculous Dove Blesses the Gospel and the Shepherd"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Miraculousby Chris Banescu –
\nA miraculous event happened recently in an Orthodox Christian monastery in Crete. As reported by John Sanidopoulos on the Mystagogy blog<\/a> and documented via multiple photographs (see below), a white dove miraculously appeared during the religious procession on the monastery grounds. The beautiful bird first landed on the Holy Gospel and then perched itself on the head of the Orthodox priest holding it. The dove continued to rest on top of the priest’s hat all the way inside the church.<\/p>\n

During a visit by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the sacred Monastery of Saint John the Baptist<\/a> on the Island of Crete, a white dove appeared during the procession towards the church. The dove first perched itself on top of the Gospel book carried by the priest. It stayed there while the Ecumenical Patriarch venerated the Holy Gospel.<\/p>\n

As the priest walked towards the monastery\u2019s main church, the dove moved from the Holy Gospel onto the priest\u2019s shoulder. Then it flew and rested on the pastor\u2019s kalimavki<\/em> (a black hat worn by monastics and archimandrites). While the procession continued moving towards the church, the dove remained perched on top of the priest\u2019s hat. <\/p>\n

\"WhiteNear the church entrance the beautiful bird spread its wings resembling the iconic depiction of the Holy Spirit familiar to all Orthodox Christians. The dove stayed firmly perched on the pastor\u2019s hat and kept its wings spread out as the procession entered the church. Another priest then took the bird and released it outside, where it flew into the blue sky of Crete.<\/p>\n

This miraculous sign was reminiscent of the scriptural accounts, documented in all four Gospels, of the events surrounding the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, \u201cThis is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.\u201d (Matthew 3:16-17)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, \u201cYou are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.\u201d (Mark 1:9-11)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, \u201cYou are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.\u201d (Luke 3:21-22)<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd John bore witness, saying, \u201cI saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, \u2018Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.\u2019 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.\u201d (John 1:32-34)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Providentially, this white dove appeared and blessed the Holy Gospel and the Orthodox Christian shepherd holding it at the very Monastery of St. John the Baptist, the one who was the Forerunner of the Lord and originally testified that Jesus is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, still testifies that St. John spoke the truth, Christ is indeed the beloved Son of our Creator, Light of Light, True God of True God.<\/p>\n

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by Chris Banescu – A miraculous event happened recently in an Orthodox Christian monastery in Crete. As reported by John Sanidopoulos on the Mystagogy blog and documented via multiple photographs (see below), a white dove miraculously appeared during the religious procession on the monastery grounds. The beautiful bird first landed on the Holy Gospel and … [read more]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[53,26,21,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miracles","category-orthodox-christianity","category-orthodox-church","category-scriptures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxnet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxnet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxnet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxnet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxnet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxnet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxnet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxnet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxnet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}