I very much revere the Iveron Montreal Icon. On two occasions – before the finding of the head of St. Alexander of Svir and before the arrival of the precious head of Great Martyr and Healer St. Panteleimon in St. Petersburg - a paper copy at my home gave off a sweet fragrance.

When I learned more about brother Joseph, curator of the Icon, I became filled with love for that remarkable person, and sincerely mourned over his martyric death.

I once bought a video cassette about the Icon and about brother Joseph at an Orthodox exhibition. On the cover, brother Joseph was depicted holding the Icon. I put it into a polyethylene bag. I walked around the exhibition for about an hour, then opened the bag… and was struck by a wave of marvelous sweet fragrance.

All sorts of things can happen... all sorts of things can be imagined, but this was repeated several times.

When the same exhibition was repeated a year later, I made the acquaintance of a woman who had met brother Joseph during the Icon’s visit to Bulgaria.

She gave me an account of what had happened to her in Moscow that was absolutely identical to mine. She had bought a copy of the same cassette in the winter, and was going home. She opened the bag, and sensed the same remarkable fragrance.

Thus I received confirmation that it really had happened.

The handmaiden of God Tatiana
“Orthodox Life” No. 10, 2006