By Manolis Melinos
A priest in Russia, after the Sanctification of the Waters on Theophany, was filling bottles of Holy Water for his parishioners. A middle-aged lady approached him and gave him a beautiful bottle. However, as soon as he put Holy Water in it, the bottle shattered!
"My lady, what was in the bottle?" the priest asked bewildered.
She shamefully lowered her head and confessed:
"Father, I was sympathetic towards a lad and wanted him to marry my daughter. To achieve this, therefore, I went to an old sorceress and she gave me the 'water of love,' as she called it. However, I was scared to give it to my daughter to drink. And to be sure it wouldn't hurt her, I thought of mixing it with Holy Water."
"Do you now see," the priest told her, "why the water of God and the water of the devil do not fit in the same bottle? This is why it shattered. Great care is needed. If we want something, we must only ask God, our Father. And He, if it is for our good, will grant it to us. The devil, to the contrary, makes a thousand and two concessions to seemingly please us, but will eventually lead us to destruction."
Source: From Άνθη Αγίας Ρωσίας [Flowers of Holy Russia], Αθήνα 1995.
