I visited my elderly mother soon after my father had died, and I noticed a small paper icon on a table she adorns with icons. At a glance, I thought it was St Nicholas, and enquired about where she received it from. My mother advised, a fellow parishioner gave it to her and clarified its not St Nicholas its a strange Bishop who she doesnt know of. She went on to describe a peculiar event as follows. While she was praying he approached her and said "the people are going" (this is a loose translation from Greek) and she immediately recognised the strange Bishop saint when she was offered the paper icon soon after the prayer encounter. The name on the icon was in English and my mother is barely literate in Greek, so she only new him by image. After deciphering the icon lettering I told her he's a slavic saint of some sort and I googled the name to find the relevant details. Afterwards she showed me her little notebook collection of names, dates and experiences where she recorded this peculiar encounter dated in the May before my father died; my father died on 2nd July (St John's feast day)!
