A Miracle Through Saints Mar Okeen and Mar Jacob

The Healing of the Paralyzed Man

Saint Mar Jacob and Saint Mar Okeen went down to serve the Divine Liturgy, and they saw a man lying in the nave of the church and learned that he had been paralyzed for fifteen years. Saint Mar Okeen entreated Saint Mar Jacob, saying, “Our father, let us offer a prayer for this man.”

The two saints prayed, saying: “We ask You, O Lord God, to heal this man, that Your name may be glorified in this city, and that the pagans and the Jews may know that You alone are mighty and believe in the name of Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. As You worked powers and wonders through Your pure and holy apostles, work this miracle through Your two lowly servants, that Your holy name may be glorified and the power of Your life-giving Cross may be revealed and magnified. As the mouths of the chief priests, the scribes and the Pharisees were stopped before the signs and wonders, and Your word grew and increased while they turned back in shame, so now, O Lord, heal this sick man, and may the mouths of those who mock the power of Your exalted Cross be stopped, and may Your holy Church glory in Your life-giving Cross. To You be glory and honor, now and at all times, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.”

When the two saints had finished their prayer, Saint Mar Jacob said to Saint Mar Okeen, “Go to him and sign all his limbs with the sign of the Cross.” These words did not seem right to Saint Okeen, and he answered, “My father, Saint Mar Jacob, you are the father bishop; go and sign him with the sign of the Cross.” Saint Mar Jacob did not accept what he said, but told him, “Let us sign him together.” So they both signed the man and said to him, “O man, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, rise and walk.” At once the man rose up healed, and lifted his hands to heaven, glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ, who had granted him healing through His saints Mar Jacob and Mar Okeen.

“Many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did” (John 2:23).

The people rejoiced and shouted for joy, and their faith was strengthened when they saw this miracle. The man who had been healed girded himself and went out proclaiming the great power of God, and many believed in the name of Jesus Christ. But there were some who mocked, saying, “That man was never paralyzed.”

Qadroun and the Followers of Marcion

In the city there was another man called Qadroun, one of the followers of the sorcerer Marcion who had mocked the miracle. His brother was governor of the city. For the sake of his office the governor had been baptized and become a Christian when the righteous Emperor Constantine asked him to, but in his thoughts and his heart he leaned toward Marcion. Qadroun, the governor’s brother, had not appeared before Emperor Constantine, lest he order him to be baptized and become a Christian. There were followers of Marcion in his house, and he had a son who was paralyzed, his limbs withered.

When he heard of the healing of the paralyzed man, he sent for the man who had been healed in order to learn the truth from him. When the man came to Qadroun’s house, he spoke before him, before all who were present and before his whole household, saying, “I suffered from this disease for twenty-five years, and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of His life-giving Cross, and through the hands of His devout servants, I was granted healing.” The followers of Marcion rebuked and insulted him, saying, “The followers of the Nazarene made you say this; you were never sick.”

The man who had been healed answered, “It is for your sake that I came here. I know that you will see the power of God through His saints, and that God will shine a ray of His light upon you to scatter the darkness from your minds, so that you may abandon your error.” Then he turned to Qadroun, the master of the house, and said, “You chose to call me so that I might tell you of the power of the Lord Christ that was shown in me, and I have proclaimed it in the whole city. So, my lord Qadroun, if you believe in the name of Jesus the Nazarene, that He was truly born of the Virgin Saint Mary, go to Saints Mar Jacob and Mar Okeen and believe their preaching. You will receive your sick son from them healed, your soul will believe the true faith, the error of these sorcerers will be driven out of your house, you will rejoice in baptism and in new life, and you will be a good beginning for all whom God chooses in this city.”

“If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him” (1 Kings 18:21).

Qadroun, the brother of the city’s governor, marveled when he heard these words. His heart was divided; he began to long for the Gospel of the Lord Christ, to accept it and to abandon the teaching of Marcion. He said, “If Jesus Christ were not truly God with power over all things, He would not have healed this man. The healing of my son in the name of Jesus the Nazarene will be a sign for me.”

The sorcerers answered him, “Our lord Qadroun, why do you doubt the teaching of Marcion, and why have you not driven this misguided man away from you?” Qadroun shook his head a little and said to all his companions gathered around him at that time, “I do not know whom to drive away, this man or you! Be patient with me a little, until I know where the true faith is; that I will follow, I and my household, and I will turn away from error.”

Qadroun in the Church

Qadroun went up to the church with his household, his servants and the followers of Marcion. There Saints Mar Jacob and Mar Okeen learned of his coming and ordered that he be brought in. At that time the leaders of the city and the governor, Qadroun’s brother, were with the saints. When Qadroun came in, he bowed down before the saints and kissed their hands and feet, he who before had not wished even to see them.

Then he stood up and said with a loud voice, “My lords, I used to think in my mind that I held the true faith. My faith was the faith of Marcion; I believed it and thought that by it I was far from error. Many times I fled from the presence of the Emperor, lest he command me to become a Christian, and so I became a stranger to public office for the sake of this belief. Without the fear of God I thought and acted this way. Now my thoughts are divided and I am torn; I stand before two roads and do not know which is the right one.

“I heard of the healing of the paralyzed man and my thoughts were troubled. I said to myself: whoever holds the healing of this child of mine holds the true faith. I made this a sign, and with all my heart I asked God to show me the true faith: the faith of Marcion, which says and preaches that the Word of God did not take on a body, was not born of the Virgin Mary, and that there is no resurrection of human bodies; or the faith of the Christians, who say that God the Word became incarnate and was born of Mary, and that the dead will rise. O God, I know nothing, and I am drowning in a sea of division. Show me the true faith. In the faith of the one through whose hands my son is healed I will believe, and his God I will worship. It is You who will raise me out of my doubts; guide me to the straight path.”

The followers of Marcion warned him, saying, “Do not let the followers of the Nazarene lead you astray into believing in the One whom Mary bore. None of them can heal a sick person, so do not follow their teachings.”

The Words of Saint Mar Okeen

Saint Mar Okeen asked the father bishop Mar Jacob for permission to speak, and answered: “I say before all of you, my beloved: we cannot speak with many words that bring no benefit, but with the words of life we speak in the name of Jesus Christ our God, in whom we believe. He was born of the Virgin Mary, the daughter of David, as all the prophets foretold. He suffered the pains of the Cross for our salvation, descended into Hades and saved Adam and all his descendants; by His death He trampled down death and broke its power, and after three days He rose from the dead and raised up our whole nature with Him. After His resurrection He appeared to His disciples for forty days, explaining to them the things concerning the Kingdom of God, and commanded them not to leave Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high, and then to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, and whoever does not believe will be condemned.

“Our good Savior said to them at His ascension into heaven: ‘And these signs will follow those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover’ (Mark 16:17–18). Whatever we ask in prayer by the power of the Holy Spirit we receive, and by the power of the holy Cross we bring to nothing the illusions and fantasies of the sorcerers. And you, followers of Marcion, if you hold the true faith, let us see the power of your faith in healing the child.”

Then Saint Okeen shook his head, smiled a little and said, “We are able, and we believe; not in our own strength do we trust, but in the power of the saving name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who promised us that whatever we ask in prayer in His name will be done for us, and who also said, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find.’ It is not by our righteousness or our piety that we do this, nor for our dignity or standing that our request is granted, but for the sake of this crowd standing here, that they may see the glory of God and that the unbelievers may turn from the error of Satan to the knowledge of the true faith.”

Next miracle: The baptism of the paralyzed child →

Sources

• The Life of Saint Mar Okeen, by His Grace Anba Matthaeus, Bishop and Abbot of the Monastery of the Virgin Mary (El-Sourian)