Many pilgrims who are not able to bring their sick to the relics of the Saint, bring their clothes and leave it under the relics of the Saint, to spend the night there for at least one night. In addition to clothes, they also bring food, usually sugar, and act in the same way
Over a hundred miracles have been recorded by the monks of Ostrog only recently, and they are kept in the manuscript collection of the monastery of Ostrog, some of which have been published. Some of these published miracles, which were arranged by the hieromonk Irinej Gavrilović, are also published here, and the rest were delivered by Father Vaso Ivošević.
One craftsman from the vicinity of Nikšić became seriously ill. On examination, the doctors determined that the paralysis was in full stage. There was no cure for that. The man was all curled up. His relatives advised him to go to Ostrog to Sveti Basil, but he immediately refused, because he was an atheist, an infidel. After some time, Saint Basil appeared to him in a dream and invited him to come to him in Ostrog, so he would heal him. After thinking for a long time, this man finally decided, and agreed to take him to the monastery. Arriving at the monastery, he confessed and spent the night under the coffin of the Saint’s relics, where his prayers were read. After a short time, he was completely healed, and out of gratitude to St. Basil, he named his eldest son Basil.
In September 1956, Drago Dzarabkapa came to pay homage to St. Vasilije from the village of Vrulje, near Pljevlja (Montenegro), and said:
“Two years ago, I was very ill with my stomach. I turned to doctors in Pljevlja, Prijepolje and Sarajevo. The doctors were in doubt about my illness.
Eventually, they discovered that there was an ulcer in the stomach. After all, the doctors suggested that I come to the hospital and stay there for 20 days, and then, with the written consent of me and my parents, they would operate on me. Despite the severe pain, which became more unbearable every hour, I did not agree to the operation. I went home. As soon as I got home I lay in bed, from which I could not move anywhere. In the same year, in March, while in bed, I had an unusual dream.
Namely, I dream of traveling one way, unknown to me at all. Due to the unfamiliarity of the road, I was seized by a great fear, which doubled when I turned from that road towards a small cave, which was filled with darkness. Suddenly, a man (unknown to me) appeared in it, and asked me: Why are you crying? I replied that I was afraid, because I had no one with me. Then he told me to go with him. Traveling with him, I came to a small door, which was closed. An unknown man opened it and we both went inside. The room was beautiful and very bright, although I did not see a lamp anywhere. Then he said to me: “You will spend the night here. This is the home of Saint Basil.” After these words, I woke up, deeply shaken by what I had dreamed. I immediately told the dream to my parents, who agreed to go to Ostrog immediately. So my mother and I, although seriously ill and exhausted, went to Ostrog for the first time. In Ostrog, I spent the night with the Saint for two nights, with daily prayers. I immediately started feeling better and after two days, I am completely healthy went home happily. And the joy of my parents was boundless. Out of gratitude to the Saint Basil for the healing, I came this year with my uncle Daša Cmiljanić and mother Milja. I always pray to God and Saint Basil to continue to protect me, me and all my loved ones, from every temptation. “
In August 1957, they brought a seriously ill woman to the Upper Monastery, who had been ill for a long time, named Lena Junčaj, from the village of Drume (Albania). She was brought by her husband Leka and brother-in-law Nua. She was so ill that her husband and brother-in-law took her from the Ostrog railway station to the monastery with great difficulty and effort. Upon arrival at the Upper Monastery, they immediately entered the church and approached the relics of Saint Basil. They asked that the patients be given a prayer for healing, which was immediately granted. After the prayer was read, they asked that the patient stays a little by the cofin with the relics of the Saint. And that was allowed to them. The patient fell asleep next to the holy relics and slept for nearly two hours. Then they woke her up and went to their home. The patient obviously felt better. Upon arriving at her home, the patient suddenly began to feel the arrival of health and soon fully recovered. A few days later, a letter arrived to the Ostrog monastery from her brother-in-law, who was more literate than the patient’s husband, in which Nua reports that his sister-in-law has completely recovered. They all thank God and Saint Basil.
Vera J, a young girl from the vicinity of Bar (Montenegro), a clerk by profession, suddenly fell ill in 1950, from a severe nervous disorder, and as such was not capable of any job. Concerned parents took her to doctors everywhere and asked for help from the best neurologists at clinics in Belgrade (Serbia) and Zagreb (Croatia), but, unfortunately, without success. Her health deteriorated sharply day by day. When all hope that the girl would ever recover was lost, the mother decided to bring her to Ostrog, hiding from her neighbors (as they were communist), and looked for a cure there. She left at the beginning of the winter of the same year. They came out from the Lower to the Upper Monastery with great difficulty. The girl was seized by some exhaustion and twitched as if possessed, intending to return. With great efforts, they brought her to the Upper Monastery, where the guardian of the Holy Relics read her a prayer, intended for the healing of such patients. That night they spent the night in the Upper Monastery. The next day, the girl appeared completely healthy, to the great surprise and joy of her mother and everyone present. She returned home cheerful and healthy, and within a few days resumed her former clerical work.
Radomir Pantović from the village of Gradac, on July 13, 1961, in the Upper Monastery, shared his story like this:
“In 1929, I became seriously ill. As a result of that illness, I lost the power of speech. All efforts to heal myself and get my speech back were in vain. Then my father decided to take me to Ostrog. With the great effort of my father. and with my troubles, we arrived at the Upper Monastery, where we approached the Saint’s relics. There the monk read me a prayer. After the prayer I stayed to sleep a little in the church. I laid down and fell asleep. When I woke up I was completely healthy. I did not feel any pain and, to my great joy, I was able to speak, the monk and my father and others present were very surprised, and after that we all thanked God and St. Basil, who gave me healing. With my father.
From now on, I will continually come to Ostrog, to pay homage and gratitude to the great miracle worker, Saint Basil. “
In the summer months, many pious people come to the Ostrog monastery to pay homage to St. Basil. And on August 4, 1961, Slavko Jovanović from Sarajevo (Bosnia) came to pay his respects and told the true story of his brother’s healing: “My brother, says Slavko, named Radivoje, was a severely mentally ill person. He was really and formally insane. He spent about 5-6 months in a Sarajevo’s hospital, but without any improvement and no hope of recovery. My parents decided to take him out of the hospital and bring him here to Ostrog, to St. Basil. Although the doctors there did not like it, they discharged him. Maybe they were glad that they would get rid of a seriously ill person, even in for a short time. My parents took my sick brother to Ostrog, believing that he would find healing there. When they brought him to the Upper Monastery, near the relics of Saint Basil, they read him a prayer and anointed him with oil, after which he immediately felt better. They removed the ropes from his hands and the next day they both returned home happy, thanking St. Basil who gave my brother health and healing. When they arrived home, in our place Zubac (near Sarajevo), all the locals and relatives were very surprised to see Radivoje healthy and conscious. Radivoje later got married and now has his own family. He now does a carpentry job. He constantly glorifies and praises God and His benefactor, Saint Basil of Ostrog. “
Thus, even now, amazed by this strange work of God, Slavko Jovanović finished his story.
Every year, at least once a year, one can see a young man in Ostrog, highly educated, employed as a lawyer in a large company, rushing to the Upper Monastery to thank St. Basil for his healing. Here is what he, Bozidar Celebic, from Belgrade shared with us.
“At the beginning of 1961, I became seriously ill with a serious illness. I was treated in the hospital for 4 months, but without success and with little hope of recovery. At the time when I was lying in the hospital and struggling with a serious illness, my friend Alexander J. At the request of my deeply believing mother, he came to the Ostrog monastery and there, for my healing, performed the consecration of the oil.
At the same time as the oil was being blessed in my name, I felt a strange lightness and improvement of health. Soon, to the general surprise of the doctor, I asked to be discharged from the hospital. I was very persistent in my request, so the doctors had to satisfy my wish. Today, I came to Ostrog with my colleague Aleksandar to pray to God and thank Saint Basil that I am completely healthy “, concluded Božidar Čelebić.
Many pilgrims who are not able to bring their sick to the relics of the Saint, bring their clothes and leave it under the coffin with the relics of the Saint, to spend the night there for at least one night. In addition to clothes, they also bring food, usually sugar, and act in the same way. On that occasion, the guardian of the Holy Relics read a prayer over the objects in question. When they return, they take the consecrated things with them and take them to the sick, believing that St. Basil will help them in this way as well. And it really helps, as will be seen from the following case.
On August 15, 1962, in the Upper Monastery, Božidar Šijaković and his wife, Slavka, recounted the following: “Our son Vidomir was seriously ill with a head disease, from which he suffered terribly for two years. We took medicine from many doctors and visited many hospitals. Doctors gave him various medicines and injections, but everything was useless. The headache did not go away. The year before last, my wife’s mother, Ilinka Novaković, went to Ostrog to pay homage and pray to St. Basil. On that occasion, we gave her a kilogram of sugar cubes to put under the coffin with relics of St. Basil and to read the prayer for Vidomir’s health on it, which she did. When she returned home, she brought us the mentioned sugar. We gave that sugar to Vidomir for a few days, believing that, as a thing consecrated in Ostrog, it would help him. We don’t know how and in what way, but we know: when he ate that sugar, he completely recovered and from then until today, his head has never hurt again. We have come to thank God and St. Basil for healing our son. “
In July 1964, Vicar Bishop Barnabas approached the relics of St. Basil. After paying homage to the Saint, he told us about his healing with water from Ostrog. When he recounted this true event, we begged him to present his case of healing to us in writing. That’s what he did. Here is that letter.
“I was in the twelfth grade of high school. It was in the winter of 1929. An epidemic of scarlet fever reigned in Sarajevo (Bosnia). And it was a few days before St. Nicholas, our patron saint’s day. The house was busy preparing for the feast day.
The mother made fasting cakes and prepared cod. Our house kept the holy rules and laws, and my father was ready not to celebrate and commemorate St. Nikolai’s day the right way.
And then lightning struck from the clear sky. I barely got back from school that day. I immediately went to bed. But as early as tomorrow morning, an ambulance drove me to the hospital. Scarlet fever. The house abruptly changed the whole look, people came from the city physicist and put a note on the door with the inscription: “Infectious disease”. The poster depicted a corpse’s head, a sign of mortal danger for visitors.
Holy Father Nikola came to our house sad that year. The house was locked. The only concern of the family was my health, my life. I was the most seriously ill in the entire infectious ward. They already had to tie me up. In the heat and madness, I wanted to jump out the window.
When it seemed to the doctors that everything was over and lost, they allowed my mother to come and be with me in the last hours of my earthly life. When my mother came, I didn’t recognize her. I had already received a camphor injection. Last help. And then, when the nurses and paramedics left, when my mother was left alone with me, she took a small bottle out of her purse. In it was the holy water of Ostrog. Deeply, fervently and poignantly, as only a mother can, my dear mother prayed to God and the Holy Mother of God and the holy Miracle Worker Saint Basil of Ostrog. I couldn’t get up on my own. My mother gave me to drink the holy water three times, a gift from Saint Basil of Ostrog. I opened my eyes. I recognized my dear parent and suppliant, my tearful prayer book. She helped me get up and cross myself; together with her I read Lord’s Prayer, and fell into a sweet, invigorating dream, which has brought me health and life to this day.
That is how the Holy Miracle Worker Basil of Ostrog did what all medicine could not do. “