A few hundred kilometers east of Moscow is the village Derjavino. On May 5, 1999 at the home of Antonina Ivanovna Efimova icons began to flow myrrh. Witnesses to the event were Antonina and her daughter Olga who is 33 years old. On Holy Wednesday in 2000 the right hand of Christ in an icon began to flow myrrh as from an open wound. Then on His head in the area which left scars from the thorns there appeared red spots. Slowly the blood and myrrh came together and formed a crust purple color.
The blood started to clot. In 19 separate icons of these two faithful people there ran myrrh and blood.
Archbishop Sergius of Samaria said: "At first I had doubts, until I saw the icon of Christ. A smell of blood was truly in the air. This indeed turned out after a chemical analysis." With the blessing of the Archbishop of Samaria the icon was venerated in different cities of Russia.
In Moscow, in the Church of the Nine Holy Martyrs of Cizic who are celebrated on December 14, tens of thousands of believers venerated the icon of Christ from Derjavino. Archpriest Ioan Bukotkin was shocked by what he saw with tears in his eyes and he prayed: "O Lord and my God! Not even the Scribes and Pharisees crucified You as much as we crucify You with our sins."
At that time the myrrh and the blood ran copiously.
The icons in the home of Antonina Efimova are not old, nor even painted. Most are paper. Those who venerate the icons feel a tacit pleasure in their soul and there have been many miracles.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos
