“He placed the relic on me…”
After that early morning spiritual conversation, I went to Holy Communion.
Then came breakfast—eggplants, fresh bread, melons, and rose wine.
Afterwards, I waited outside the refectory for the Abbot’s blessing, standing near the line of monks coming out from their meal.
Suddenly, a hand tapped my shoulder.
It was the monk who had heard my confession.
I thought he didn’t speak English, but he said in broken English, “come and follow me”.
I followed him back to the church.
He walked past the main iconostasis, back into the relic chapel.
He turned to me and said, “Wait here.”
He disappeared behind the curtain.
When he returned, he was wearing his stole and holding something in his hands:
the belt of the Virgin Mary—one of the monastery’s most treasured relics.
He gently instructed me to kneel.
He draped the stole over my head.
And then he placed the relic on me.
I prayed. And he prayed.
And then he blessed me and sent me on my way
