Monthly Prayer Service for the Sick and the Suffering: Especially for those suffering with cancer

Upcoming Prayer Services:

Tuesday, July 9, 2024 | 6:00pm

Tuesday, August 13, 2024 | 6:00pm

Tuesday, September 10, 2024 | 6:00pm

Tuesday, October 8, 2024 | 6:00pm

Tuesday, November 12, 2024 | 6:00pm

Tuesday, December 10, 2024 | 6:00pm

Akathist to the Mother of God: Healer of Cancer

This beautiful Akathist is written to the Mother of God Pantanassa or Queen of All, an Athonite miracle-working icon, effective in many healings of cancer and other illnesses.

O Christ, Who alone art our Defender: Visit and heal Thy suffering servant _____________, delivering him (her) from sickness and grievous pains. Raise him (her) up that he (she) may sing to Thee and praise Thee without ceasing, through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Thou Who alone lovest mankind.

“There are many wondrous Icons of the Mother of God in the world.”

Now there is another wondrous Icon which, according to the Will of God, is being glorified in our time- weak in piety and abundant in sins and sorrows though it is- by miraculous healings of both spiritual and bodily ailments. In Greek this Icon is known as the “Pantanassa”; in English, “Queen of All.”

This Icon has been located on the Holy Mountain (Mount Athos) in Vatopedi Monastery since the 17th century. Shortly after the Icon was placed in the catholicon of Vatopedi the following miracle occurred. A certain young man came into the church desiring to venerate the honored Icon of the Mother of God. As he drew near to it, the face of the Holy Virgin suddenly began to shine, and an unseen power threw him to the ground. When he came to himself, he confessed with tears to the fathers that he had been living far from God and that he had been practicing magic. From the time of this miraculous intervention of the Virgin he changed his life and became a devout Christian.

This Icon of the Mother of God, “Queen of All,” have also been glorified though many wonderful healings of cancer, now a widespread disease. For this reason the Community of Mercy (in the name of the holy and righteous St. John of Kronstadt, which labors in the children’s oncology ward of the Science Research Institute in Moscow), with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexis II, requested a copy of this Icon to be made. In response, the Abbot of Vatopedi, Archimandrite Ephraim, blessed that he labor be undertaken for a copy of the miraculous Icon, “Queen of All,” to be painted for the Russian people.

Before the copy was begun, the Divine Liturgy was served, followed by a moleben with a blessing of the Holy Water. This Holy Water was then used to mix the paints and the Russian iconographer Vladimir began his work, carefully observing all the ancient rules of iconographay. When the Icon was completed, it was placed on the altar of the main church for forty days and then sent to Russia, arriving on August 11, 1995. More than one hundred bishops and priests greeted the Icon for a special service in the Kremlin Dormition Cathedral. At first, the Icon was kept in the house of the pious clergyman and was taken from there to the cancer hospitals of Moscow, where molebens were served before it. After these molebens, considerable improvement in the condition of the sick was obvious.

A short time later the Icon, “Queen of All,” was brought to a new habitation, the Church of All Saints in the former Novo-Alekseyevsky Monastery. It was here that the Akathist to this Icon was written, in 1996, which combined both the distinctive quality of the Greek original and the Russian traditions of Church hymnography. In the Church of All Saints a moleben with the Akathis to the Mother of God “Queen of All, “ is served every Sunday; at the end of the moleben, oil is blessed for distribution to the sick for anointing. Chronicles of miraculous healings performed by the Mother of God through her miraculous Icon are being kept at the Church of All Saints. We will cite a few examples here.

1. Five years ago [in 1992] it was discovered that Alexander, who is now 20 years old, had angiofibrosis at the base of his skull. He began to go to the Molebens served before the Mother of God, “Queen of All,” and the tumor became noticeably smaller. Now it cannot be distinguished at all.

2. An elderly women was diagnosed with stage three cancer. She had an operation and they took out a piece of her intestine. She did not go through either chemotherapy or radiation treatment. Her daughter read the Akathist to the “Queen of All” for forty days, praying for the healing of her mother, and anointed the sick one with blessed oil. Now she is completely healthy.

3. A one and a half year old child, Leah, was diagnosed with liver cancer. Her mother, listening to the advice of a pious parishioner, began to pray fervently before the Icon, “Queen of All.” She often took her sick daughter to receive Holy Communion, and anointed her with the blessed oil. After a month and a half, the mother - her face shining with joy- announced to her friends: “Yesterday we were at the hospital and theanalysis was excellent! The doctors are amazing.” The happy parents received not only healing of their child but also the precious pearl of faith. After having a moleben of thanksgiving served, they were married in the Church and became Christians not only in name but also in their life.”

Rejoice, O Queen of All, Who dost heal our ailments by Thy grace!

-A Brief History of the Icon, “Queen of All” from the Akathist Book