- Part one -
Does it smell good?
Touching upon the topic of well-known organoleptic (that is, performed with the help of human senses) assessments of myrrh-streaming products, it should be said that since the prevailing church practice involves the use of a substance as a means for external use, we can say almost nothing about its taste. There are only sporadic reports of its ingestion. Thus, the head of the expert working group on the description of miraculous signs under the Moscow Patriarchate, P. Florensky, described his experience of tasting as follows: “When I applied to the cross - there was a lot of oil, I could not resist - licked it. If apples were used to make butter, not juice, I would say it is apple oil. Amazing taste."
Flavor is usually the result of the presence of many volatile and non-volatile components with a variety of chemical and physicochemical properties. While non-volatile compounds are the main contributors to taste, volatiles affect both taste and aroma. A large number of compounds are known that form the flavor of food products, such as alcohols, aldehydes, esters, dicarbonyls, short and medium fatty acids, methyl ketones, lactones, phenolic compounds and sulfur compounds.
The smells, which in some cases accompany the phenomenon of myrrh streaming, deserve a separate consideration. Since both cases of odorless discharge of liquid are well known, and "reverse" cases - fragrances, not accompanied by visible (at least macroscopically) release of the substance. It is also possible to assume the relative independence of the course of these two phenomena.
The assumptions that the "fragrance" in some cases can be "microfirming", in which the released liquid is not detectable with the naked eye, were expressed by eyewitnesses themselves, one of whom conducted an interesting experiment with a cross given to him by his father: "… He said that he bought from monks, with particles of the relics of some saints. A small cross, worn on the neck, silver on a chain, made rather carelessly, like all cheap souvenirs. In one place a large drop of solder hangs, I wanted to break it off, but did not, otherwise the whole thing would fall apart. I didn’t particularly like that some kind of oriental perfume was sprinkled into the box in which it lies, just like I once bought a book on Indian cuisine from a Hare Krishna, it was also perfumed.
Time has passed, about a year, probably. I noticed that the smell of this "oriental perfume" did not disappear. However, the box is closed, why not. And later I wondered why? Moreover, cotton wool, or rather a piece of dense synthetic winterizer, has partially turned slightly yellow, as if from oil. I remembered that there should be a particle of relics. I called home, my father, of course, had long ago forgotten what kind of saint or saints.
I decided to experiment. He took out the cross and cotton wool from the box, left it open. For comparison, I took a piece of pressed cotton wool (for removing makeup, round such) and sprayed the strongest French perfume that I found at home. I left everything in one place. The plastic box lost its smell the next day. The cotton wool from under the cross weathered in a week. The cross, in general, also had no smell. Itself is tiny - 24x15x3 mm, what can you hide in it. I tested the control fleece for a long time. After two weeks, the smell greatly weakened, and after a month and a half, the smell became simply disgusting, that is, French perfume does not live in the open air.
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I put the cross on the same cotton wool, in the same box. And he began to follow regularly. The smell is back, the oil stain is even bigger and brighter. Moreover, the smell sometimes intensifies, sometimes weakens, sometimes disappears completely (even for a long time). The last time the smell disappeared for two days. You have understood that the relics of the saint are streaming in the cross. The volume of the relics is tiny, so the outflow is not visible, only an oil stain and a smell. The smell changes not only in intensity but also in “content”. I don't know what the changes are related to. But the source is no longer in doubt. Especially considering that this has been going on for almost four years …”.
It is characteristic that the aromas exuded differ significantly both in the types of odor and in their intensity and stability, just as there is a wide spread in the appearance of myrrh-streaming products in color, consistency and volumes of the released substance. Moreover, in the description of smells, the subjectivity of the perception of eyewitnesses begins to play a significant role. So, in one of the cases, the first eyewitness compared the smell to vanilla, and to the second, who often attended church, he reminded incense. But in general, such a variety of odors is quite consistent with the version about the involvement of aroma-forming microorganisms in their appearance.
Odor-producing microbes can be found in soil, water, mushrooms, fruits, berries, dairy products, and other places. The capacity for aroma formation is not a systematic feature; it is demonstrated by a wide variety of microorganisms, such as yeast, various bacteria, actinomycetes and molds. They have the property of releasing aromatic substances such as esters and volatile acids.
The aromatic odors of microbes often resemble those of fruit: pineapples, apples, etc. This aroma depends on various esters arising from the interaction of alcohols and organic acids formed by microorganisms. It is microorganisms that form the smell of many products familiar to us, for example, wine, milk, butter, cream, cheese, etc. For example, with the help of yeast on grapes, you can add a bouquet of wine to beer wort. It is also known that a specific aroma is especially sharply felt in microbial cultures that have just been isolated from their natural habitat, and under conditions of artificial cultivation, their aroma formation gradually weakens.
Currently, most aromatic compounds are obtained by chemical synthesis or from plant sources. However, in recent years, alternative ways of their production based on microbial biosynthesis and biotransformations have attracted great interest. Obtaining aromatic compounds from microbial cultures, or their enzyme preparations, offers a number of advantages over traditional methods. Microbial metabolites can be obtained in large quantities and give a high yield of a product with better characteristics, along with low economic costs. The reviews give an idea of the currently known possibilities of the biosynthesis of aromas by microorganisms and the chemical nature of the substances that form these aromas.
In recent years, it has already become generally accepted that any organism, object or building contains its own microbial ecosystem (microbiome), unique in the composition of the species that form it. It is regulated by complex internal interactions and reacts to the influence of factors of the external and internal environment. Above, we have already touched on this topic in relation to church buildings. Differences in microbial composition depend on environmental factors such as the available set of nutrients, pH, humidity, temperature, etc. There are publications in which the microbiome of truffles is considered as the main factor in the formation of their aroma, while treatment with antibacterial drugs suppresses the production of volatiles aromatic compounds.
It is the interactions between the various microorganisms that form the microbiome that can lead to a significant variety of manifestations of myrrh streaming and the fragrance of icons and other objects.
Conclusion
In some cases, metabolic products (so-called exudates) of molds living on icons, or microorganisms that can grow in parallel with them in a favorable microclimate, can be taken for the released "miro".
Although it is possible to identify the reasons for each specific case of myrrh streaming of this kind only with the use of special methods of laboratory diagnostics, as long-term practice shows, their use is fraught with great difficulties in obtaining material for research: both the myrrh streaming objects (including icons) and the products themselves. myrrh streaming.
The ROC experts also admit the difficulty of conducting such studies. So, in 2014, during the 22nd International Christmas Educational Readings at a meeting of the section "On True and False Miracles", a member of the expert working group on miraculous signs Sergei Mirov noted that almost all icons that scientists undertake to study, for some then the reasons cease to exude the substance. As a result, according to Mirov, the process of myrrh-streaming itself becomes impossible to study: “Usually, if an icon suddenly stops streaming myrrh before the arrival of scientists, then this is either an outright falsification, or the icon, as they say, is“offended”by scientists - this also happens." At the same time, according to P. Florensky: “Our working group has not been invited to investigate such incidents for a long time. They call, ask, consult. When we first started our workit was a sensation, we were in great demand. Now we have developed the principle of such work, and everything has been debugged without us. We are not an audit committee, we are scientists."
Here it should be clarified that this group was actually engaged not so much in research as in the description of the phenomena occurring and the systematization of the information received to it, and the task of identifying possible falsifications was not set before it. In those isolated cases when the group nevertheless carried out a chemical analysis of liquid samples (from domestic icons of residents of the city of Klin, Moscow Region and the village of Lokot, Bryansk Region, where well-known massive myrrh streams were observed), common vegetable oils were found. But, since there are no chemical criteria for the sanctity or authenticity of the exuded substance, for the church the performance of such an analysis is not of interest and this work has not been developed.
Nevertheless, even after the cessation of the active phase of myrrh flow, an independent expert is sometimes able to give a conclusion about the anomalous nature of the excretion of the substance. Thus, the Perm restorer Timofey Shutemov said in one of his interviews that in restoration practice he came across a myrrh-streaming icon: “This is an icon of Panteleimon the healer, it is in Perm in the church in honor of the Assumption of the Mother of God at the old Yegoshikhinskoye cemetery. It shows smudges characteristic of the myrrh-streaming icon. I was asked to keep them after restoration. I don’t know how to explain this phenomenon from a scientific point of view, but as an expert I can say that the swelling of the soil on the icon indicates that the liquid oozed from the inside, raising and swelling the soil. When I lay down the bumps during the restoration, I found an oily cherry-colored liquid under them. I repeat, I don’t knowhow to explain this phenomenon from a scientific point of view, I can only say that myrrh streaming as a phenomenon I observed in my practice ….
Olga Voskresenskaya, the restorer of the Sergiev Posad Museum-Reserve, has a similar opinion about this phenomenon: “The most interesting thing, working with icons for many years, sometimes you come across the inexplicable. Not all the time, but it happens …”. Olga herself did not personally observe cases of myrrh, but her fellow restorers talked about the research of the myrrh that appears on icons - in some cases it was not possible to fully establish its composition.
The main reason for the stagnation in the study of the phenomenon of myrrh streaming can be considered the absence of any motivation among eyewitnesses to find a scientific explanation for what happened. As a result, many incidents that take place outside the church's doorstep remain unknown to anyone. Despite the fact that some of the eyewitnesses are far from a religious worldview and even independently came to a guess about the involvement in the phenomenon of mold, they do not make attempts to collect samples or simply inform any of the specialists of the corresponding profile.
Notes
1. Not all toxic compounds secreted by fungi are called mycotoxins. So, substances that are toxic mainly to bacteria are called antibiotics, and those toxic to plants are called phytotoxins.
2. In this case, it was a question of myrrh streaming from an Easter egg.
Roman Solzhenitsyn
- Part one -