By Fr. George Dorbarakis
The month of December is illumined by the commemoration of great and wonderworking saints, both of earlier times — such as Saints Nicholas and Spyridon — and of more recent times, such as today’s Saint Dionysios. The faithful of our Church experience the memory of these saints, endowed with the great gift of wonderworking, as a profound consolation, because above all, by virtue of their boldness before the Lord, they are able to intervene in their lives, offering solutions to their dead ends and healing ailments that are often incurable.
To avoid any misunderstanding, all our saints are wonderworkers, since they possess the power of prayer that activates our Triune God, who in any case is the “One who wills mercy.” And if some saints do not have the reputation of being great wonderworkers — such as, for example, certain great teachers of our Church — it is because they were granted by God the gift of healing the thoughts of people and preserving them from the corruption of heretics. This, perhaps, constitutes the greatest gift of God: right faith in God and, consequently, the true image of the Church are the greatest gifts of God to humanity. For what miracle, for example, of bodily healing could be accomplished, and what meaning would it have, outside the true Church of Christ? Therefore, the miracle of right faith is presupposed before the miracle of healing bodily illnesses.
