Intraditional Orthodox countries such as Russia, Romania and Greece,  thefaithful take such phenomena for granted. Whether they have experienced aweeping icon or not, there is no question in their mind that these sacredimages-usually depictions of the Virgin Mary-really do weep. Throughout theUnited States great numbers of Orthodox and other Christians have been deeplymoved by similar experiences. To them as well, the tears are real.  I hadlong heard of weeping icons and, as I look back on it, I believed  thereports to be true. The whole matter, though, had no real significance for meon any personal level. That changed, however, when my wife and  Ireceived a phone call from a young priest who invited us to visit  hisparish one winter evening a few years ago. He claimed that a weeping  iconhad been brought to his church a day or two before. He also asked  us notto mention it to anyone else, chiefly because he wanted to avoid  invasionby the media. More out of curiosity than conviction, I accepted  theinvitation, and we drove over to his parish.

       Thechurch was lit only by candlelight. An extraordinary odor-a perfume like rosewater, only vastly more beautiful, more heavenly-filled the entire building. Inthe center of the nave, in a glass-covered wooden  lay the icon. I liftedthe lid and looked at the image, which was  clearly illumined bydozens of surrounding candles. In the corners of  the Virgin's  eyes,oil welled up in the shape of tears, then slowly ran down the icon.  Cotton laid at the base of the image was drenched with the liquid. It was   those tears that exuded the heavenly aroma.

       Wewatched for nearly twenty minutes as dozens of tears gradually formed  inthose lovely, tragic eyes. The priest joined us and invited us to hold the icons and examine the back. The entire board was saturated with oil. Then,to my astonishment I realized that the icon was a  copy: a piece ofpaper   glued to the board. This was no "original," no "authentic"icon. It was  a copy. Can copies weep?     (Answer:yes!  There are over a hundred copies of the icon of Damascus associatedwith Mirna that are weeping.)

       Mindlessquestions like that went through my head for a few minutes.  Then thingsfell into perspective. It's not the paint-not egg tempera-that makes an icon.An authentic icon is made by God.

       Originalor a copy, its truth and its value lie in what it depicts.  Ultimatelythey lie in the person of Christ Himself, since every genuine iconis "Christ-centered," whether it be of Jesus, of His Mother, or of thesaints. Like every true icon, this one of the Mother of God depictedtransfigured  humanity. In the face of the Virgin we beheld our own trueface, the image  in which we were created and to which we are forevercalled. And this  image had the added grace of tears.

       Onour way home, we wondered aloud about the reason for those tears.

       Why, in fact, icons weep? Is it because of ours sins? Or because of the threatof some imminent tragedy? Or because we have forgotten the griefof Jesus'Mother, as she helped take down His wasted body from the cross washed andanointed it, then laid it in a tomb?

       Istill can't answer the question Why do icons weep? But weep theydo.  There are no tubes, no plumbing, no condensation-. The tears inthose eyes are real. And they express the full reality of heavenly beauty andheavenly grief.

       Thetears I saw that winter evening were mixed with olive oil and kept in a littleflask. They are used to anoint the stick, and, at times of feasts within theChurch, all the faithful who take part in worship.

       I probably never will know just why icons weep. But I have no doubt that theydo. On the other hand, I do know that those tears are a gift to all of us. Iknow beyond question that they bless and they heal. And that, really  isenough.

       Thepriests at a Greek Orthodox church in the New York suburb of Hempstead, LongIsland, report that miraculous healings are continuing years after icons of theVirgin began shedding tears in the area. The phenomena involved three iconsthat were brought to St. Paul's Church: Our Lady of Perpetual Help (above), theLamenting Mother of God (below), and a third that is now in Florida. While theflow of tears has long-since stopped (it first began in March of 1960), FatherNicholas J. Magoulias, the pastor, told Spirit Daily that other phenomenacontinue at this church that lost two parishioners to the tragedy of September11.

       Onerecent cure involved a Roman Catholic woman named Lilly Bertuccio, who was setfor a major cancer operation. After praying before one of the icons she tookoil from the shrine and applied it with a short prayer ("I am applying thisHoly Oil with the Blessed Mother's hand"). Two days before the operation, shehad a dream filled with remarkable light and the following Friday, when shewent to New York Hospital of Queens for the surgery, a mammography indicatedthat the tumor was gone.

       "Wethen went to another room for a different mammography," she noted. "The nurse,my doctor, and the technician returned to my room and the technician said tome, 'Do you believe in miracles?' I said, 'Yes, I do.' He said, 'For twentyyears I have been doing this and this is the first time this happened to me.Whatever was there is not there anymore."

       Thatwas in 1997. According to the priests, the healings continue to the present day-- with at least two remarkable ones a year. "For instance, there was one Iknow last March of a woman suffering from cervical cancer who was completelyhealed," said the associate pastor, Father Joakim Valsiad. "I heard this withmy own ears. I know that every day three or four stop by, pray, and receive theassistance of the Virgin Mary."

       "Theicons are still miraculous," says Father Magoulias. "They still do healings. Wehad two this past year. It's a continuous thing. When I first came we had anall-night service, and we had a lady here from Chicago who was deaf, and beforeI started the service she was moved to take a picture. Back in those days theyused to have a bulb that they would place in the flash, and she went to take apicture and all of a sudden it exploded. I heard a big explosion and turnedaround and said, 'What happened? What happened?' and she was hysterical. Shesaid, 'I can hear! I can hear!' Her doctor sent a letter documenting it."

       The church is one of a growing list in the New York area involving allegedmiracles. Reports of phenomena have also come from Our Lady of the IslandShrine in Eastport (47 miles to the east); from a woman in Huntington whoclaims apparitions of St. Therese the Little Flower; and even a tree on theUpper West Side of Manhattan that seemed to bear an image of the Virgin justweeks before the World Trade Center event. Meanwhile, the Pope has beenvigorously seeking reconciliation between Roman Catholicism and the OrthodoxChurch, both of which have a profound devotion to Mary.