🔸 Saint John the Russian and the Atheist Doctor 🩺 🔸 In the 1960’s, a doctor who was a staunch atheist became ill with cancer of the rectum, one of the most serious cancers of that time. After the diagnosis, the doctor fell into despair, and began to pray for the first time in his life: “O God, I’ve never believed in You. I thought that all belief was nonsense, and that man should believe only in man and science. Now all my philosophy has lost its value. Accept my repentance, and if you think this prayer worthy, heal me in the name of Saint John the Russian.” As he finished his prayer, someone knocked at the door. A young doctor then entered the room and said to him, “How are you doing, colleague?” The sick doctor hopelessly answered, “What can I say? I am dying.” In a calm voiced, the young doctor responded, “No, you won’t die. I’m taking your illness on myself.” The sick doctor refused to believe what he was hearing, and questioned the young doctor, saying, “I have been practicing for a long time. I know what my disease means. Who are you?” The young doctor responded, “I’m the one you asked for help”, and then he left the room. The sick doctor followed him out into the hall, but could no longer see him. He asked the staff, but they replied there had been no such young doctor, and suggested that he was hallucinating from the shock of the diagnosis. In a state of shock, the sick doctor was now sure that the young doctor who visited him was in fact Saint John the Russian whom he invoked in his prayer. He then insisted on another round of tests, and the second exam showed that he was completely healed of his illness. Dozens of specialists were called into behold the miracle shown by the x-rays: the first showing the cancer, and the second completely clear. Many miracles like this one have been attributed to St John the Russian, who continues to be invoked in the prayers of the sick and those suffering from cancer.