In the video below, Vasili Mastrogiannis, an army officer in Athens, offers his testimony of a miracle of Saint Ephraim that dramatically changed the course of his life. He describes himself at the time as being an atheist and having no relationship with the Church. One day, as soon as he arrived in his newly purchased home around 3:00pm, he noticed a beautiful fragrance that reminded him of incense or myrrh. This left him dumbfounded, since the scent was coming from within the house and there was nothing there that could give off such a smell.
A few days later, on 21 November 2006, a Wednesday, he went to the doctor and had a blood test done. When the results were in, the doctor told him he had to have some tests done in the hospital, because his liver was completely destroyed. After he had further tests done, it was confirmed that his numbers were rising and his liver was completely destroyed.
With this news, and while still in the hospital, Vasili felt the urgent need to pray. He was told about the Monastery of Saint Ephraim in Nea Makri, and he asked the doctor's permission to go there and pray, but he was forbidden to go and even to move. Vasili decided to go anyway, so he snuck out and made his way there, without knowing where it was.
As he was driving to the monastery, though not knowing where to go, he stopped at a gas station with an attached super market, where he saw a nun. When he asked her where he could find the Monastery of Saint Ephraim, she crossed her hands and said: "I will not tell you where you can find the Monastery of Saint Ephraim; you will find it on your own. But I will tell you that for whoever he wants to help and protect, he will allow himself to be smelled."
When he arrived at the monastery and saw pictures of the abbess and founder, Makaria, who reposed on 23 April 1999, at her grave, he immediately identified her as the nun he saw at the gas station. He began to feel a disturbance within his soul. When he stood in front of the coffin containing the relics of Saint Ephraim, his knees buckled and he fell down crying. Overcome by emotion, he made the first confession of his life to Saint Ephraim. He then begged him for his life.
Meanwhile, the hospital called him back in to undergo a biopsy. He told his father not to have him undergo the biopsy, because he believed Saint Ephraim was going to heal him. Still, he went to the hospital, and after further exams his numbers now began to drop dramatically. When he left the hospital the next day, his intention was to go back to the monastery to thank the Saint, but he was so tired that he went home instead, with the intention of going within a few days.
Not long after this, Vasili noticed certain bruises on his body. He went back to the hospital for further tests, and this time he got an even more dire result. He developed a certain disease of the blood with a rare form of anemia and he was now required to undergo a rigorous form of therapy coupled with self-isolation. Before he was admitted for this, he asked if he could visit the monastery. When he arrived at the monastery he asked the Saint for forgiveness for not coming back sooner to keep his vow to return, and he begged the Saint once again for his life, being only 26 years old.
During his self-isolation, Vasili spent a lot of time praying and asking Saint Ephraim to heal him. When testing was done after this, nothing had changed and a transplant was needed, but there wasn't anything available. His case was featured on television news in the hope that one of his fellow officers or anyone else could help. Meanwhile, as time went on, Vasili fell into a coma. At this point, the doctor's raised their hands in surrender, unable to do anything more.
One night, a doctor told Vasili's father that his son was now barely alive and will not survive the night. That night, with Vasili barely awake, he suddenly smelled that aroma of incense or myrrh that he had some days ago in his house. His room suddenly brightened and was full of light, and in the midst of the light he saw Saint Ephraim, a tall figure, with the appearance as he is in his icons, wearing a round hat, and standing tall over Vasili, he bent over him, did his cross three times, and said to Vasili: "Now I will receive you."
The next day, Vasili was out of his coma, which shocked his doctors. They said they couldn't explain this, but he must have had some Saint help him. Tests were done, and it was revealed that Vasili was back to his normal health.
Vasili later got married at the monastery and his oldest son was baptized there with the name Ephraim. He has a daughter as well.
The video below, besides this testimony, contains other wondrous testimonies of the wonderworking grace of Saint Ephraim the New.
