A myrrh-streaming icon is an icon that produces fragrant oil. The oil appears on the painted surface, sometimes as droplets, sometimes as a visible flow that can be collected on cotton. It smells sweet, like myrrh or flowers, and the Church receives it as a sign of God’s grace.
This isn’t something we manufacture or expect. It just happens. The Hawaiian Iveron icon of the Theotokos, which has traveled to Antiochian conventions, will from time to time begin producing this oil. People collect it reverently, often with cotton swabs. The fragrance fills the room.
What We Believe About These Icons
We don’t worship the oil or treat it like magic. The phenomenon itself points beyond itself to God’s action through the intercessions of the Theotokos or the saints. It’s an invitation to deeper faith, to repentance, to prayer. The oil is a blessing, but it’s not a replacement for confession and communion. That matters.
When an icon streams myrrh, the proper response is prayer and veneration, the same kind you’d offer any icon. You kiss it, you bow, you make the sign of the cross. If clergy are present, they’ll often direct how the oil is collected and distributed. Sometimes it’s used to anoint the faithful. But the real fruit we’re looking for is spiritual, humility, increased devotion, a return to the sacraments. If people start acting proud or superstitious around a myrrh-streaming icon, something’s gone wrong.
The Church is careful here. Bishops and priests need to be involved when these things happen. We test the fruits. Does this phenomenon lead people closer to Christ, or does it become a sideshow? Genuine signs produce repentance and charity, not division or greed. There’s always a danger of sensationalism, of people treating the oil like a lucky charm instead of receiving it as a call to holiness.
Historical Examples
The most well-documented modern example in Antiochian circles is that Hawaiian Iveron icon. It’s been present at archdiocesan gatherings, and people have witnessed the oil appearing. Other Orthodox jurisdictions report similar phenomena with various wonderworking icons. The Kardiotissa icon, called “The Tender Heart,” is another that’s been reported to stream myrrh. These accounts show up in parish newsletters and Orthodox news sites, usually with photographs and testimonies from clergy and faithful who were present.
But here’s the thing: this isn’t laboratory science. We don’t typically send the oil out for chemical analysis or conduct double-blind studies. The documentation is testimonial and ecclesial. Priests vouch for what they’ve seen. Hierarchs give their blessing for the icon to travel. People report healings, though those claims aren’t medically verified in the way a hospital would verify them. That doesn’t make the phenomenon less real to us, but it does mean we’re operating in a different register than empirical proof.
Living With Mystery
If you’re coming from a Baptist or non-denominational background, this might sound strange. You might be wondering if we’re being superstitious or gullible. But Orthodox Christianity has always held that the material world can bear grace. We believe the bread and wine become Christ’s Body and Blood. We believe water in baptism washes away sin. We believe icons are windows to heaven. So an icon producing fragrant oil? It fits within that same sacramental worldview.
At the same time, we’re not credulous. The Church has seen plenty of frauds and delusions over two thousand years. That’s why ecclesial oversight matters. That’s why we look at the fruits. Metropolitan Philip of blessed memory, who led the Antiochian Archdiocese for decades, would’ve been the first to tell you that signs and wonders mean nothing if they don’t lead to repentance.
If you ever encounter a myrrh-streaming icon, receive it as a gift. Venerate it. Let it draw you deeper into prayer. But don’t let it become a distraction from the regular, ordinary work of salvation, showing up for Liturgy, going to confession, loving your neighbor, fasting when the Church fasts. The oil is a sign pointing to something greater. It’s not the destination itself.
And if you’re skeptical, that’s okay too. The Church doesn’t require you to believe in any particular myrrh-streaming icon to be Orthodox. What we do ask is that you remain open to the possibility that God still acts in the world, still gives signs, still meets us through matter and image and fragrance. That openness is part of what it means to live sacramentally.
