The Faith of a Jewish Family
Shmuel son of Hanan, a Jew, saw this wonder and began to glorify and praise God. He believed in the Lord Christ and said, “Truly Jesus Christ is God incarnate, whom the Christians preach. Truly He is the Son of God, and woe to the Jews who did not receive Him.”
He had a daughter eight years old who was bound by Satan. He brought her before Saint Mar Okeen and said to him, “My lord, I was with the Jews and not with Christ, but today I have come before you to make a covenant with Christ, that I will not return to the Jews or mingle with them. Nothing shall separate me from the love of Christ; in Him I will believe and confess all the days of my life, I and all my household. I ask you to entreat the Lord Christ to free this daughter of mine from the bonds of Satan.”
The saint ordered his disciple to bring a cup of water. He signed it with the sign of the holy Cross, signed the girl with the Cross, and said, “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ I say to you: come out of this girl, and do not return to take hold of her again.” The demon came out crying, “Ah, you disciples of Jesus the Nazarene! You have driven us out of every land, and you have not left us alone even with our own disciples.”
The girl fell to the ground. The saint raised her up with his hand and gave her to drink from the cup, and they glorified the name of God.
“And immediately he and all his family were baptized” (Acts 16:33).
The Baptism of Qadroun and Shmuel
Qadroun cried out with joy and said to Saint Mar Okeen, “What hinders me and my household from being baptized?” Shmuel said the same. They all kept vigil in the church praising God until morning, and all of them, Qadroun and his household and Shmuel and his household, received holy baptism and partook of the Holy Offering (Qurban). At baptism Qadroun took the name Paul, and his son was named “Yani.” Joy and gladness filled the whole Church.
When the governor saw these events, he raised his voice and said, “I confess with all my heart that I was in doubt, a Christian only outwardly. Now I am certain, and I believe with all my heart in the Lord Christ, God of gods and Lord of lords, Savior of the whole human race and Healer of diseases, apart from whom we find no salvation.” On that day many pagans and Jews believed, until their number reached one thousand two hundred souls.
Qadroun made a great feast in his house. The father priests came to his house and prayed and blessed his home, and they brought out the books of sorcery and burned them in the fire. The number of those whom Saints Mar Jacob and Mar Okeen drew to faith in the Lord Christ kept growing, so Saint Mar Jacob began to think of building a large church that could hold the people, in addition to the small church that was already in the city.
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Sources
- The Life of Saint Mar Okeen, by His Grace Anba Matthaeus, Bishop and Abbot of the Monastery of the Virgin Mary (El-Sourian)