Honey Bees Respect Icons

[milos]

An article from the blog of the Serb monastery of Glogovac.

http://manastirglogovac.blogspot.com/2013/09/blog-post_3.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ManastirGlogovac+%28Manastir+Glogovac%29

Honey bees also respect icons!

In the region of Kapandriti near Athens, a beautiful thing had happened. Ten years ago, a pious beekeeper Isidoros Timinis, got an idea to place an icon of The Crucifixion of the Lord into a hive. Soon after, when he opened the hive, he was astonished, honey bees showed respect and devotion to the icon, they have made their cells in the wax, but left the face and the body of the Lord uncovered. Since then, he places icons of the Savior, the Mother of God and the saints, into a hive every spring, and the result always remains the same.



Once I brought a hand painted icon from the monastery, which represented the Calvary with the three crosses. Bees have waxed the whole surface of the composition, except the Christ and the repentant robber on his right side, while the robber on his left side was covered with the thick layer of wax.



The last time when I came, we have put an icon of the Saint Stephen the First Martyr and Archdeacon into one hive, whose name our modest publishing house bears. As you may see in this picture here, the whole icon is covered with wax, but leaving the face and the body uncovered.

Monk Simeon

[Solar]

WOW! That simply fascinating!

[Yawn]

You sure they "respect" them, or AVOID them. Maybe you're missing the message!

You shall not make for yourself any graven image, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them [i.e., the graven images]; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."

[Solar]

You sure they "respect" them, or AVOID them. Maybe you're missing the message!

You shall not make for yourself any graven image, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them [i.e., the graven images]; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."

Would that include images of Christ?

[milos]

You sure they "respect" them, or AVOID them. Maybe you're missing the message!

You shall not make for yourself any graven image, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them [i.e., the graven images]; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."

Well, the explanation is we don't worship icons or images or saints, but we worship the God through the lives and deeds of his saints.

[milos]

Let me tell you the story about one of the most appreciated icons in the Orthodox Christian world. It is called The Three Handed Mother of God. Tradition says it was painted by the Apostle and Evangelist Luke. During the 8th century there was a movement called iconoclasm, which taught icons were idols that needed to be destroyed. In 754 this teaching was adopted by the Church, and so they started to destroy icons. There was a man in Damascus called John who strongly opposed this point of view. For his writing against the iconoclasm, the iconoclasts punished him by cutting his right hand off. He took his right hand, and started to pray in front of the icon of The Mother of God to heal him, so that he could continue to write about the need for appreciating the icons. After the whole night prayer, he was miraculously healed. Than he decided to become a monk, and he ordered goldsmiths to make a hand of silver which he added to the icon he prayed in front of and was healed for the reminder of that event. Later, in 787, the iconoclasm was convicted as a heresy, and icons were allowed for appreciation again.



When we pray to a saint, we don't expect he/she would heal us by his/hers personal powers, because he/she doesn't have them. Rather than that, we pray to a saint to pray on Heavens together with us, so that our prayer become stronger with the saint's pure soul praying for us too. And only God decides if he will send us mercy and accept our prayers, he is the only one who has the power and who is Almighty. So, when we say a saint has healed us, by that we mean that a saint has helped our prayers reach the God.

The honey bees recognize God's presence, so they avoid waxing above God's face and body in order not to profane him.






Replaced photo for milos

[nyrackpoole]

An article from the blog of the Serb monastery of Glogovac.

http://manastirglogovac.blogspot.com/2013/09/blog-post_3.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ManastirGlogovac+%28Manastir+Glogovac%29

Honey bees also respect icons!

In the region of Kapandriti near Athens, a beautiful thing had happened. Ten years ago, a pious beekeeper Isidoros Timinis, got an idea to place an icon of The Crucifixion of the Lord into a hive. Soon after, when he opened the hive, he was astonished, honey bees showed respect and devotion to the icon, they have made their cells in the wax, but left the face and the body of the Lord uncovered. Since then, he places icons of the Savior, the Mother of God and the saints, into a hive every spring, and the result always remains the same.



Once I brought a hand painted icon from the monastery, which represented the Calvary with the three crosses. Bees have waxed the whole surface of the composition, except the Christ and the repentant robber on his right side, while the robber on his left side was covered with the thick layer of wax.



The last time when I came, we have put an icon of the Saint Stephen the First Martyr and Archdeacon into one hive, whose name our modest publishing house bears. As you may see in this picture here, the whole icon is covered with wax, but leaving the face and the body uncovered.

Monk Simeon

Cool,, pics man!!      
Looks really fabulous, my hobby is to collect all the unique photos and I'd saved a copy of these photos thanks for your valuable pics,,   

[admin]

Cool,, pics man!!      
Looks really fabulous, my hobby is to collect all the unique photos and I'd saved a copy of these photos thanks for your valuable pics,,   

You're welcome, we aim to please.

[milos]

Here is what seems to be the original article from a Greek website. There are two more photos.

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2013/09/the-respect-bees-have-for-holy-icons.html

Monday, September 2, 2013

The Respect Bees Have For Holy Icons



By Monk Simon

In the region of Kapandriti near Athens, a wonderful thing happens. Ten years ago, a devout beekeeper named Isidoros Ţiminis, thought to place in one of his hives an icon of the Crucifixion of the Lord. Soon thereafter, when he opened the hive, he was amazed that the bees showed respect and devotion to the icon, having "embroideed" it in wax, yet leaving uncovered the face and body of the Lord. Since then, every spring, he puts into the hives icons of the Savior, the Virgin Mary and the Saints, and the result is always the same.



Once I brought a handmade icon from a convent, that represented Golgotha with three crosses. Bees "embroidered" with wax the entire surface of the composition, leaving one to clearly perceive the Cross of Christ and the Thief at his right hand while the thief on the left cross was covered with a thick layer of wax.



Last time I went, we put in an icon of St. Stephen the Proto-Martyr and Archdeacon, whose name our humble publishing company bears. As you can see from the picture that we publish here, the entire icon is clothed in beeswax, leaving uncovered his face and body.

Source (in Romanian): The Saint's Love For Animals and the Animal's Love For the Saints. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

http://sfantulmunteathos.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/albinele-si-icoanele-dragostea-sfintilor-pentru-animale-si-dragostea-animalelor-pentru-sfinti/