I came across this website which appears to be run by a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church: http://www.one-catholic-church.com/miracle-of-damascus.html According to the website the alleged visionary "is a Greek-Catholic wife & mother who is married to an Orthodox Christian...and, according to Canon Law, under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of her husband, being Antiochian Greek-Orthodox". I don't know whether that statement is accurate or whether the Canon Law referred to is the Catholic Canon Law. If it is, perhaps the Church won't take an official position on what has been happening there. I don't have an opinion on whether or not is it valid because I don't know enough about it. Pictures exuding oil wouldn't necessarily be a sign from God any more than the colour of rosary beads turning to gold which can be a sign of alchemy. Miracles, the orthodoxy of the messages, and the comportment of the seers/visionaries/locutionists are usually a good indication of whether Heaven is the source. I don't know whether there are genuine miracles (healings) associated with Soufeniah, but there doesn't appear to be anything questionable in the messages and the seer/visionary is more believable than many who claim to be receiving messages and are followed by members of this forum..
Nazzour, a Melkite Catholic who’s married to an Orthodox Christian, tours the world, speaking of her experiences and the hope that Christians around the world will celebrate Easter — “Pascha” — in unison. From Spirit Daily (doesn't have date listed): We caught up recently with Myrna Nazzour, Syrian stigmatic and seer, now 52, who, it is claimed, experienced the rare phenomenon in 1982 whereby pure olive oil not only exuded from an icon in her proximity but from the then young woman herself -- causing wonderment to Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and Muslims alike. She herself is from a household of both Catholic (her father) and Orthodox (her mother) heritage -- blending what John Paul II called "both lungs" of Christianity. Remarkably, her mysticism has met with the approval of Roman Catholic authorities (the papal nuncio at the time, Bishop Luigi Accogli), the Melkite Catholic prelate (Isidore Battikha), and an Orthodox Patriarch. That cross-denominational approbation -- perhaps unique in Mariology -- has been made more poignant by her message of Christian (Orthodox-Catholic) unity. In fact, some of her phenomena only occurred at times when Orthodox and Catholic holiday coincided (including major ones such as Easter and Christmas, which on the differing calendars are often days or week apart). ...... The last time oil exuded from her hand was back in 2007, Nicolas, who translates for his wife, informed us from Damascus, where Myrna had just returned from her seventh trip to the United States, where she spoke at twenty churches there and in Canada, traveling in the company of a priest and with the express permission of her Melkite archbishop). ...... An Orthodox himself (he married Myrna, originally Mary Kourbet Al-Akhras, but known simply as Myrna), Nicolas married her six months before the experiences began and told us that they and their two children are doing well in Damascus but that ISIS radicals have caused huge disruptions in surrounding vicinities. A jewelry shop he owned has closed. http://www.spiritdaily.com/myrnaupdate.htm
I have also seen this claimed to have been from the writings of Padre Pio in a letter. I can not remember to whom but I have read this and there are a few video's on YouTube regarding it. I am skeptical however because I can not find any reputable source for this claim that Padre Pio wrote these things regarding the 3 days of darkness. If anyone can shed any light on this please do.
Its a hard thing to discern I took these cell phone photos of a full size image of the Divine Mercy at the Divine Mercy Shrine in Stockbridge MA back in 2010. (Click on each image for a large hi def view.) The image belonged to a woman in California, and she gave it to the Marian Fathers after it started "weeping." It now hangs in a hallway in the administrative offices. The Marian Fathers have not made any statements about it to my knowledge: Divine Mercy Images
Don, You may want to ask Glenn about this, he has done some research about it. I remember when I thought that Padre Pio was given a vision of the 3 days of darkness and Glenn let me know that this was untrue, this was something that was incorrectly propagated on the internet. Here is a thread in which Glenn mentions this and states that this vision is contributed to Blessed Anna Marie Taigi: http://motheofgod.com/threads/garabandal-info-answers.2443/page-297#post-149813 Marie Julie Jahenny also wrote about the 3 days of darkness and there are a few free books about her visions on the internet. Let me know if you are interested in them and I can direct you to them if you like.
