Vassula in New York and Pittsburgh – USA

November 2 – 7, 1999

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour – Holy is his name, and his faithful love extends age after age to those who fear him. He has used the power of his arm, he has routed he arrogant of heart. He has pulled down princes from their thrones and raised high the lowly. He has filled the starving with good things, sent the rich away empty. He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his faithful love – according to the promise he made to our ancestors – of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.” (Lk. 1, 46 ff).

Our Lady’s praises that she sang to the faithfulness and power of God at the hour of the Annunciation of the Messiah and her own son ring in the ears of all those who are her children too and who follow her and do their best to imitate her “Yes” to the will and the love of God. And what else can I do than continue her praises to the love and might of God, having witnessed with my own eyes what He, the Lord, did on the latest trip of Vassula to the United States. Only praises and thanksgiving are the right answer to the mighty works that God is doing in our times through and around his Love-Hymn, True Life in God.

Vassula’s visit in the US in 1999 was different to all her previous visits to the American Continent. It contained an excellent meeting in the Greek Orthodox Church of Brooklyn, NY, a meeting with a special new friendship. Also, it contained the 1999 Medjugorie Steel City Conference that was different than any of the previous years due to the presence of speakers that never visited the US before and who are witnesses of some little known but truly amazing works of the Spirit of God today.

Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox Church Brooklyn,NY

sign outside for all to come in

Vassula in New York, November 2 – 4, 1999
Archimandrite Eugene N. Nicolau, Parish Priest of the Greek Orthodox Church “Three Hierarchs” in Brooklyn, New York, had invited Vassula to speak in his parish for the first time. Father Eugene, an amazing personality, very open to the moves of the Spirit of God in our times, proved to be a friend from the first time he met with Vassula and her friends.

Senior Citizen Society hosting “An Afternoon of Spiritual Awakening”

Refreshments being served ,donated by Nick Bouloukos of the Seacrest Diner

TLIG books in English John Lynch volunteer

TLIG books in Greek Helen Klamson volunteer, Mrs. Poulos

Father Eugene knew about Vassula partly through New York TLIG volunteers, partly through the Greek-Catholic Mystic Myrna Nasour of Damascus, Syria, who visited his parish earlier in the year and who is a good friend of Vassula. As many will know, more than just being good friends, Myrna and Vassula carry the same message of Unity, a message in which Jesus asks for one particular operation of the Churches – the unification of the dates of Easter. When Myrna visited Father Eugene’s parish, Father Eugene and all the faithful had a powerful experience of the grace, God has bestowed upon Myrna: during her witnessing, oil started pouring profusely from Myrna’s hands. With the same oil, she blessed all the people present and this event just as the words of Myrna left an indelible mark on the entire parish. Knowing the friendship between Vassula and Myrna, Father Eugene was already very open to the mystical approach of Christ and His call for Church Unity. In fact, Father Eugene for several years has been preaching the Lord’s desire for unity, even before he got to know Myrna or Vassula.

Clergy met with Vassula prior to the meeting, Fr.Anthony Sirigos, Fr Peter& Pres Kyriakos, Fr. John Corbett, Fr.Eugene, Fr.David McGlaughlin

Fr.Angelo Gavalas meets with Vassula

Parish council members Mr.Kallinikos, Mr Lambrakis,Vasilios Bassakyros, Tecky before the talk

Before the meeting, Vassula, Teckie Johnides and myself had a meeting with Father Eugene. While we were talking, the issue of Church Unity came up, and Father Eugene started to express his convictions on how much Christ longed for the Unity of his Body, how he envisaged the future unity to be and which were the problems, the Church was facing before unification. Vassula, Teckie and myself looked at each other in amazement, and I exclaimed: “Are you sure, you have not read Vassula’s messages prior to our meeting?!” Father Eugene expressed exactly the same desires and insights that Jesus is giving through True Life in God, to the point of quoting the words of Christ. He never read them prior to the meeting with Vassula!

Father Eugene Nicolau is active in the ecumenical and interfaith projects and was instrumental as the first Orthodox foreign missionary having served in the Phillipines, Corea, and Japan in the late sixties and early seventies and has been pastering the parish of the Three Hierarchs for the past 17 years. He studied under the Dominicans, has a degree in Ecumenical theology from the World Council of Churches in Geneva, and is presently the representative of the Greek-Orthodox Archbishop in New York to different ecumenical gatherings, such as the USA National Council of Churches. Thus, the dialogue between Father Eugene and Vassula prior to her talk was one of mutual understanding, sharing the same mission.

No one had announced the meeting in public. It was held at an hour at which most people are working – at one o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon. This was the only appointment that could be accommodated in Vassula’s schedule. Even so, over five hundred people showed up. They were a wonderful mixture of Coptic, Greek, Russian and Rumanian Orthodox and mainly Italian and Polish Catholics. Most of the people had not heard about Vassula before.

After a short introduction by Father Eugene himself, I briefly introduced Vassula and her by now world-wide mission. Because of the many “new-comers” to True Life in God, Vassula gave an introduction to how the messages began, as well as a general view on the contents and meanings of the messages. People were very attentive and responsive. There was an amazing silence in the hall. Father Eugene himself followed every word of Vassula. At the end of Her talk, Vassula read a famous message of Jesus in which he talks about the “Administrators” in His house: You have industrialized My House, this House which should have been a House of prayer! (February 7 1991) At the passage where Jesus says: “You have industrialized my house”, Father Eugene exclaimed “Yes! That’s right!” And when Vassula finished her talk, Father Eugene without this being planned, seized the microphone and gave a very animated talk along the same lines of Jesus that the entire audience had just heard Vassula relate to them. The synergy between Vassula and Father Eugene’s messages was amazing.

Fr. Eugene introduces Vassula and thanking the Senior Citizen Society for hosting her

Niels shares a brief introduction

After the end of the talks, Vassula was asked to conduct a healing service. Most of the Orthodox believers present never heard about such a ceremony and certainly never had experienced the phenomenon of being slain in the Spirit. And yet many of the newcomers fell. You saw many who, after having fallen, got up again, crossing themselves in the Greek-Orthodox way repeatedly, exclaiming “thoxa sto theo” – Glory be to God!

Father Eugene is going to visit Myrna on 26 November 1999. Is it a coincidence, that this date is two days prior to the fourteenth anniversary of True Life in God?

Vassula addresses the Community

Fr.George Kalangis attend with Nick Bouloukos

Fr.Angelo Gavalas receives a blessing

Vassula prays over the community

people slain in the Spirit after being prayed over

Maria being slain in the Spirit

Eugenia is being prayed over

Mike Zacharakis is being prayed over

Vasilios Bassakyros is being prayed over

George Giannopouloscame in just at the end and asked for a prayer,the night before he was in a terrible car accident and his friend died.

Fr Eugene says a pray over Vassula.

group shot with Vassula

our meal with the volunteers

The Seventh Steel City Medjugorie Conference.

The Steel City Medjugorie Conference last year was a tough one for Conference organizer, Dr. Samuel Wuslich. A few years ago some of the main speakers had threatened to boycott the conference by canceling their participation if he would not cast out Vassula of the list of speakers. At that time he had conceded to the threats. Last year the story was repeated, only that Samuel Wuslich by the grace of Our Lady stood firm to the Lord’s work through True Life in God and told these speakers that it was up to them if they wanted to participate or not – Vassula was to speak. Basta! As many may know, either from having been present or by having read the report, it became a very blessed and powerful conference that Our Lady herself took in her hands and blessed in a particular way.

This year held the presence of new speakers, speakers that never spoke at American Marian conferences before. One of them was Father Ignacius Prassad of India, one of the main witnesses of the apparitions and many miraculous events, including the exhumation of Little Moses, that have happened in Vadiakadu.

Vassula had a busy program in Pittsburgh with three talks and a healing service. On Friday 5 November, I spoke before Vassula. I recalled how I had come across the Messages of True Life in God, how God had touched me on Patmos, and which direction the meeting with Vassula had made me take as a theologian, doing research in the little known theological topic of Christian Prophecy. I also related how it is truly God who has blessed True Lif