The name of Myrna Akhras is linked to Soufanieh
Soufanieh is a modest neighbourhood of Damascus, outside the old city walls near the gate called Bab Touma, whose residents are mostly Christian. What made Myrna known were strange phenomena that happened to her and baffled those who witnessed them.
Myrna married Nicolas Nazzour at the age of 18 and went to live with him in that house in the Soufanieh neighbourhood. On 27 November 1982, a strange phenomenon took place in the house: oil began to flow from a small icon hanging on the wall, showing the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus close to her; this image is known as Our Lady of Kazan. The event took Myrna and those with her by surprise, and from then on a series of strange events and phenomena followed.
Myrna says the Virgin Mary appeared to her five times. In 2004, oil flowed from her face, hands and neck. On 25 November 1983, the marks of the crucifixion appeared on her for the first time, a phenomenon known as the stigmata: wounds opened in her hands, feet and side, and these wounds recurred over the following years. Many Christians saw these phenomena as divine miracles. Father Elias Zahlaoui wrote a three-volume book entitled Soufanieh, covering 25 years of Myrna’s life, from 1982 to 2007; it describes in detail everything that happened to her during those years.
Oil seeping from her body and from icons
On 22 November 1982, Myrna was praying with other members of her family while visiting her sister-in-law, when she suddenly felt something strange and began to tremble, as if an unknown power were coming out of her; at that moment, for the first time, oil seeped from her hands. On 27 November 1982, another strange event took place in Myrna and Nicolas’s house in Soufanieh: oil began to flow from the icon.
Nicolas had bought it in 1980 at the Alexander Nevsky Orthodox church in Sofia, Bulgaria; it shows the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus in her arms. The flow of oil from this icon stopped on 26 November 1990. Between 26 November 1985 and 26 November 1986, no oil flowed at all, although the prayers never stopped.
Oil seeped from Myrna during her prayers, when people spoke about the phenomenon or during her ecstasies, and sometimes when she spoke about the Virgin Mary. During a period of fasting, from 26 to 29 November 1984, oil came from her hands, face, neck, eyes and abdomen.
Analysis of the oil
Six scientific analyses were carried out to determine the nature of the oil collected from the icon and from Myrna’s body, using samples taken in different countries: two in Syria, two in Germany, one in Paris and one in Rome. According to the results, it was 100% pure olive oil.
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