Icon of Saint Stylianos – S53

Description

Christ is the healer, the helper, the consoler, our dearest friend while the Infinite God, and the source of every good thing in this world.  Yet in His Wisdom and dispensation, He has made this world and the unseen world of the Bodiless Hosts so that when we pray to those who have been sanctified by Him, He gives the grace to help us and even work miracles when needed.  Thus the Saints are not just in Heaven now, but those who are intercessors are actively involved in the lives of many who turn to them for help.

One of these saints is Saint Stylianos, who is especially known to help sick children recover and to help childless couples conceive offspring.  Saint Stylianos live in Paphlagonia in Asia Minor (present day Turkey) in the sixth and seventh centuries, and was a fellow countryman and contemporary of Saint Alypius the Stylite.  Although Saint Stylianos was renowned as an ascetic and one who had renounced the world as a monk with all fervor, he was always compassionate to those in need.  He is a great miracle-worker.  Holding a young child in this contemporary icon, the scroll reads, “A guardian of children is a gift of God.”