Fr. Justinos and St. Philoumenos

The following sign comes from the Holy Land as well. It happened in the city of Nablus, which was the ancient city of Flavia Neapolis, built by Emperor Vespasian in 72 AD, on the site of a Samaritan village which was the biblical Shechem. It was at this location that Patriarch Jacob bought a parcel of land, moved his family, and dug a deep well, and gave it to his beloved son, Joseph the All-Comely. It was also here, by this same well, that our Lord met the Samaritan woman, revealed to her that he was aware of all of her sins in a gentle way, and that he was the expected Messiah. Becoming one of his disciples, she was baptized with the name Photini, and died in Rome as a martyr with her whole family.

The church built on this location, having Jacob’s Well in its crypt, is named in honor of St. Photini. The first church built in a cruciform, Byzantine style,  was from the fifth century. Destroyed in the revolt of the Samaritans, it was rebuilt in the sixth century by Justinian. Another church was built by the Crusaders in 1175, but appears to have only stood until 1187, when it was destroyed following Saladin’s victory over the Crusaders in the Battle of Hattin. The current church, which was started in 1914, with contributions from Russian Orthodox Christians, was only recently finished in a wondrous manner by the current caretaker of the Monastery of Jacob’s Well and of the Church of St. Photini, Fr. Justinos. This amazingly versatile priest-monk did everything in the building of the church. He was its architect, engineer, fundraiser, beggar, general foreman, mason, and iconographer.

Our sign happened in 2005, soon after the building and adorning of the church was complete. One day, Fr. Justinos heard a rumbling coming up the road. Looking from the balcony of the monastery, he saw two Israeli tanks, which stopped outside the monastery walls and began to point their guns at the two large bell towers at the front of the church. Fr. Justinos immediately began to call out for help from the saints of the monastery. He called on the Patriarch Jacob. He called on St. Photini. He called on St. Justin the Martyr, his patron saint, who was originally from that city, and a chapel dedicated to his memory is inside the church. Finally, he thought of Fr. Philoumenos of Jacob’s Well.

Fr. Philoumenos had been his predecessor as the priest-monk assigned from the patriarchate to be the caretaker of the monastery and church in 1979. He had spent 45 years as one of the hagiotaphites, the monks and nuns who care for all the holy places. Fr. Philoumenos had spent six months at Jacob’s Well. While there, he experienced repeated threats from fanatical Jews that if he did not take the cross and icons and leave, he would be killed. He responded that he would prefer to die as a defender of the faith and of the Church. Then, on November 29, which happens to be the feast day of St. Philoumenos the Martyr, Fr. Philoumenos was tortured and killed on the grounds of the holy site by four fanatical Jews who had scaled the walls of the monastery. One was shot, as he tried to escape over the walls, by policemen who had come after Fr. Philoumenos’s cries for help were heard.

Fr. Philoumenos’s twin brother, Fr. Sophronios, who was serving in Greece at that time, saw a vision of his brother at the moment of his martyrdom, crying out to him, “My brother! They are killing me for the glory of God! Please do not hold this against them.” Fr. Philoumenos’s remains were taken to the patriarchate and later were found to be incorrupt, and he was canonized as a saint by the Patriarch of Jerusalem in 2009. His memory is also celebrated on November 29.

So when Fr. Justinos saw that his cries for help were going unanswered, he thought of Fr. Philoumenos of Jacob’s Well. He cried out, “Fr. Philoumenos, this is your church! You need to come now and protect her!” At that moment, he saw St. Philoumenos of Jacob’s Well appear in the air between the two bell towers, just as the tanks began firing their guns at the bell towers. Fr. Justinos watched in amazement as St. Philoumenos swatted away five shells of the tanks which fell onto the courtyard of the monastery without exploding. The tanks stopped firing, turned around their guns, and rumbled away.

Reporting this miraculous protection of Fr. Philoumenos to the patriarch, Fr. Justinos asked that his holy remains be transferred back to the Church of St. Photini where they are venerated to this day. Fr. Justinos has often experienced and seen the presence of St. Philoumenos, guarding him in the holy site.

This sign was shared with you on Ancient Faith Radio, that you believe that Jesus is the Christ and that, believing, you may have life in his name.