Alizhan-Maxim was born in the Kazakh city of Chimkent (now Shymkent), in an international family - to a Russian mother and an Uzbek father.
Unfortunately, his arrival in this world was marred by a birth trauma. Diagnosis: Cerebral Palsy - infantile cerebral palsy - became a sentence for many years.
Until the age of 7, he only crawled. And then his mother brought him to Leningrad, to the children's regional hospital. After the first operation in 1981, the boy was sent for rehabilitation to the children's bone tuberculosis sanatorium in Vyborg. There he was taught to walk on crutches. Mom went to work to be with him. She was given housing. Since then, he has lived there with his mother and grandmother.
Three months after the first operation, at the age of 8, the boy went to school. At times he lived and studied in Kazakhstan, where the climate is milder. Then it was important for the kid. After 7 years, there was a second operation. But he could only walk on crutches.
“In 1996, I saw an ad in the newspaper that the Orthodox Pilgrim Charitable Society was organizing a pilgrimage to holy places,” says Maxim. - My mother and I bought vouchers and in May went on the motor ship "Taras Shevchenko" from Odessa to Palestine, Italy, Greece, Turkey.
Now there is such a common expression - spiritual tourism. In fact, this is far from entertainment, but a big and difficult spiritual work. Some go as tourists, and then refer to this as a spiritual feat, return completely different people. It is always the work of the soul, contact with the secret. I was traveling with one purpose - to join the sources of faith.
In the Greek city of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki), whose patron saint is the Apostle Paul, there is a monastery for the Monk Theodora. The relics of the Monk David the Stylite and the Monk Theodora rest in the monastery church. They are located in small side chapels. It was on May 25. I asked the priest which relics it would be better for me to commune with. And he says, go where there are fewer people, so you don't get pushed.
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I first venerated the relics of David the Stylite, and then the chapel of St. Theodora was freed. I asked one old woman from our ship to hold my crutches, because the cancer with the relics was too small for me, it was inconvenient to attach. I got down on my knees, prayed: "Reverend Theodora, pray to God for me," crossed herself and felt an extraordinary lightness!
The old woman, who was holding crutches, advised, try, go through, suddenly Theodora helped. (Mom was not with me, she went to another temple). And indeed: for the first time I walked with my feet, without crutches, all over the temple!
How did I feel at that moment? And joy, and awe, and delight - all sensations at once! Those present - both the pilgrims from our ship and others - were shocked. Everyone was kneeling and crying.
On the ship, passengers came up and congratulated. Mom, when they told her that I went on my own, did not believe at first … And one woman (a witness of the event) returned to the church, bought an icon of St. Theodora of Alexandria, blessed it at the relics and presented it to me. Now the icon is hanging over my desk.
I don't even know how to evaluate the miracle that happened to me. I do not want to talk about the spiritual and mystical side of this event, so as not to fall into delusion and not to lead other people into temptation. (Everyone has their own, individual experiences in communicating with God. God is not some party organizer who gives out instructions: do this and you will get this. You cannot create templates. And my spiritual knowledge began with the fact that at the age of 15 I read Leskov's story "The Sealed Angel" and wondered: who is God …) Returning home, I left my crutches, I walk with a wand.
“I made two more pilgrimages,” Maxim continues, “to practically the same places - Mount Athos, Mount Sinai, Jerusalem, Constantinople. Only on another ship - "Dmitry Shostakovich". And every time - increased attention.
Tiring, to be honest. Every time they talk about me. I walk along the deck and hear behind me - "shu-shu-shu" - this is the same … Auntie jokes that I cannot be let alone on the ship - someone will always be attached. I became a "local landmark" among the pilgrims.
This summer he again visited Thessaloniki, visited the temple of the Monk Theodora. Once again he venerated the relics. This time I experienced joy and excitement from the meeting. As if I came to a personal friend …
After the memorable day for Maxim and many other pilgrims - May 25, 1996 - people go to the church to the relics of St. Theodora in a stream. Miracles have no limits.
A. V. Potapov An article from the book "Incredible Reality: Phenomena, Mysteries, Hypotheses" (2005)