It had been raining all day, but that did not keep the Orthodox faithful away from a special vespers service dedicated to the miraculous icon of St. Anna, Mother of the Virgin Mary. When I was told that the weeping icon of St. Anna was visiting the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Lancaster, PA, I felt I could not miss this unique opportunity. I journeyed with three parish friends, including two children, from York to Lancaster to see it.

At the end of vespers, Fr. Athanasios from the Russian Orthodox Church of Our Lady the Joy of All Who Sorrows located in Philadelphia, PA, brought the holy icon into the church, incensed with great reverence and ceremony. The icon had a glass cover that was opened as it was laid on an ornate  wooden stand before the iconostas. Fr. Athanasios explained that the icon had wept myrrh for three years since May 2004 and now myrrhs occasionally with the volume increasing on feast days and when many faithful are gathered in prayer.

The icon of St. Anna, our Lord’s grandmother, baboushka, yiayia, is welcomed everywhere she goes as an ambassador. The word baboushka arouses strong positive emotions. The icon is God’s gift to us. She represents hope. The weeping tears are tears for humanity, for our fallen race, for our sins. The myrrh is a blessing for those with love for others in their heart and has led to miraculous healings for many annointed with it.

When it was time to receive the holy oil and myrrh from  Fr. Alex, the presiding priest and Fr. Athanasios, people did so patiently. It was a moving and beautiful experience and the oil glistened on faces and hands. Each person was given a small bottle containing a mixture of holy oil and myrrh and then lined up to reverence the holy icon.

What a great blessing it was to reverence the icon! I whispered my prayers before St. Anna and breathed in the light sweet smelling floral fragrance. It filled my senses. Each side of the icon was stuffed with hundreds of pieces of paper on which were written prayers and petitions for loved ones. I received my paper icon from an altar boy and then wrote several names of people to be prayed for.  It was comforting to know these names would travel with the icon of St. Anna wherever she went for the next 12 months. Of one thing I am certain. I and my fellow travelers received the protection of St. Anna on our journey home.

Learn more about the icon of St. Anna on, http://www.churchofourlady.org/anna_icon.html and  http://www.visionsofjesuschrist.com/weeping634.htm

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