I went to Damascus this year in order to live the various Feasts of Easter with Myrna Nazzour, a 36-year old young woman who is the subject of extraordinary phenomena.

My first visit there dates back eleven years, in the same circumstances, I witnessed the opening of the stigmata, an ecstasy and oil oozing from the face and hands of Myrna, and on a small reproduction of an Icon of Our Lady with the Infant Jesus, also called Our Lady of Soufanieh, the name of this Christian neighbourhood where she lives. I had documented these facts in a book; Constat médical et analyses scientifiques des événements de Soufanieh (éditions F.X. de Guibert, 1992) and on a videocassette: Les Graces divines à Soufanieh.

This time, the same events re-occurred, however with slight variants: the stigmata wounds opened simultaneously on the forehead, in the palms of her hands on the face of her feet and finally on her flank. The oozing of oil on the 'Icon' occurred on Holy Saturday, very late into the evening, before the ecstasy on the afternoon where Myrna received a rather long message from Christ.

Thus, after eleven long years of silence, of expectancy and hope, the extraordinary signs reappeared again, and with the same intensity.

1.     Myrna's equilibrium and naturalness, a very simple person, is not subject to any pathological psychiatry, while her family life is steadily assumed, all year-long, irrespectively of the affluence of pilgrims in her home, while welcoming them whole-heartedly (and in total gratuitousness).

2.     The stigmata, which are authentic wounds, finely marked, with or without blood circulation, and whose healing (without infection) do not require any prior medical precaution.

3.     The ecstasy is preceded by an oozing of oil on her skin – an unexplainable fact – during which Myrna is bathed into an interior celestial light, appears as a ‘living’ icon.

As to the small image, safely kept under key, its oozing cannot be explained: prior analyses had revealed it to yield olive oil that is incredibly pure.

These three facts are amazingly coherent. Why after eleven years of absence? Because the stigmata, reminding us of the Passion of Our Lord, occurs on Holy Thursday in the body of Myrna, only during the years when the Feast of Easter is celebrated at the same date for the Catholics and for the Orthodox – that is, when their calendars take into account the usual discrepancy. This was the case in 1984, 1987, 1990 and finally 2001. The messages given to Myrna by the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ in from 1983 until 1990 insist on Christian unity, beginning with the unification of the magnificent Feast of the Resurrection of Christ Jesus, foundation of our faith. The ‘Paulinian’ tint of the Messages, in the place of Paul’s sudden conversion, strongly reminds us of the life of the early Christian communities. Our Pope invites to unity: 'That they may be One' (1995 encyclical), while referring to an image of a church that should breathe with its two lungs, East and West. This unity is certainly urgent in this area of the world which is predominantly Muslim, and so close to the Holy Land that is in an explosive state.  It is only then – and only on this condition – as has prayed Jesus to His Father, that the world will recognize Him as the Messiah (Jn 17,21). But, peace is an important priority, while relying on numerous conversions.

Myrna is already a sign of unity by the juxtaposition of the catholic mystical phenomena (apparitions and stigmata) and the orthodox ones (oozing of miraculous oil, icon); also by the example of her family, she is a catholic married to an orthodox, both of Byzantine rite.

Christ’s Message this year impressed us tremendously. In Easter 1990, Jesus had told Myrna that she will not hear His voice until the Feast (of Easter) is unified, we must then welcome it as a firm and confident appeal to the full concordance of the dates in the future. The Greek-Catholic Church (of Byzantine rite, called Melkite) has recently been assigned a new Archbishop in Damascus who would be (finally!) agreeable to a single date for the Feast of Easter – even if it means the adopting the orthodox date as a sign of reconciliation among the sister churches.

The last three Apostolic Nuncios in Syria were quite favourable towards Myrna, without, of course, implicating the Church in a final judgement, because Myrna, given the dispositions in the Middle-East, belongs, for the time given, to the Orthodox Patriarchate (through her husband). At the end of the Easter Mass, in company of an enthusiastic group of twelve pilgrims from Tahiti, we have received the wishes of the new Nuncio. He was quite impressed when some of the pilgrims told him the reason of their visit to Damascus: a pilgrimage at Soufanieh (the pilgrims from Tahiti had traveled some 22 000 kilometres !)

Patience, wisdom and hope: these virtues re-emphasized in this last Message are necessary in order to obtain peace in mutual respect. The Gospel in practice.

Dr Philippe Loron – Neurologist

Source:  CHRÉTIENS MAGAZINE - No. 141 – PAGES 18-19 (France)

Translated by Association Notre-Dame-de-Soufanieh à Montréal (Canada)

The books about Soufanieh are presented in pages 29 and 30. In the video ‘Apparitions’ by Christian Ravaz, there is a long sequence on the events of Soufanieh commented by Dr Philippe Loron.