St. Phanourios and the Lost Wallet: A Miraculous Search with an Unexpected Twist
Recently I had a friend from church over for tea one afternoon, and somewhere in the course of our conversation, she shared with me an incredible story that had me sitting on the edge of my seat and, by the end, wiping away tears. A moving true story about St. Phanourios’s unexpected help in finding a lost wallet and the faith, prayer, and heavenly text message that followed.
Thankfully, they were gracious enough to write the story down so that I could share it with you. It is being shared anonymously, with the hope that anyone who reads it will be strengthened in their faith, encouraged to turn to the saints for their intercession, and, above all, give glory to God for the wondrous works of His saints.
A Tale About a Wallet, a Saint, a Cake and a Phone
The day started off as a normal day. Nothing particularly important was planned. So, after I picked up our teenage son from school, we headed out to explore the seasonal inventory at a local craft store. We searched aisle after aisle, but no special treasures caught our eye. On the way home we stopped at a Sheetz gas station to fuel up. As I stood before the pump, I reached into my back pocket to get my wallet out to pay. However, it was not there. I calmly walked over to the driver’s door to check in the accessory storage compartment where I normally stow my wallet while I am driving. Again, it was not there. A subtle current of uncertainty (or maybe anxiety) ran through me. I thought to myself, “Hmm…, where is it?” I proceeded to thoroughly canvass the car. No crack or crevasse or compartment was left unchecked. Still, it was not there. I said to myself, “Okay, okay, my wallet is not in the car.” Next, I called my wife. I asked her to check around the house. She did. But it was not there. Around this time I started to entertain a most undesirable thought. For the first time in my life, I might have lost my wallet!
Upon arriving back home I searched everywhere. I looked in the house, in the garage, and even in the shed outside. Nothing. Next, I decided to call the craft store to see if someone turned in a lost wallet. And after several attempts, still, no wallet. So what started off as a normal day had since devolved into an abnormal day. Finding myself in an unfamiliar and most unwelcome state, an array of questions and courses of action swirled about in my mind: “How do I replace my IDs?” “How much cash was I carrying?” “What, exactly, was in my wallet?” “What should I do first?” Suddenly, like a beam of light breaking through a cloudy sky, an old conversation came to mind. About six months prior my God father told me about a saint who specialized in finding lost objects. In fact, this very saint had previously helped my God father to find a set of lost keys that he had misplaced. The heavenly intercessor’s name: “Saint Phanourios.”
I immediately went to our icon wall to pray. I prayed to Saint Phanourios, entreating him to find my wallet and I prayed to Christ for mercy. Notably, in the course of offering my prayers a very specific message entered my mind. And, indeed, it resonated deep within my soul. The message was thus, “Do not do anything until the morning.” At the time I understood it to be a sign from heaven. So, basically, I obeyed. In fact, despite the circumstances, I was at peace for the majority of the day, often going extended periods of time without thinking about the wallet.
The next morning was basically routine. Prayer, breakfast, and so on. However, obviously, I was musing over how the wallet situation would turn out. Around nine or ten in the morning I thought to myself, “Well, I waited until morning, so I guess it is time to start figuring out how to replace my IDs and such.” I headed upstairs, got onto my laptop, and went to the DMV website. I went through the automated steps, but each time I tried to advance to the end the system glitched. So, I transitioned to figure out how to replace military and veteran IDs. I soon learned that veteran IDs have to be replaced in person. Next, I attempted to call the publicly listed phone numbers for a local military ID card facility. Yet every number that I tried was inoperable. At this point I had been going at it for about 30 minutes or so. Running into dead end after dead end, I resolved to find new websites and reliable phone numbers. But then an unmistakable sound rang out, “ding dong.” As soon as I heard it, I knew—I mean, I just knew—that my wallet had arrived. I went downstairs, opened the door, and there stood a bearded man with a wallet in his hand. After exchanging some conversation and offering my thanks, I closed the door. As I turned, my wife met me with a prompt embrace. We were quite overwhelmed with emotion. With tears welling up, we both knew that Saint Phanourios had delivered. There we stood, recalling the morning events. For us, it was more than curious that when I decided that I had duly honored the message to “do nothing until morning”, that henceforth every attempt that I made to “do something” about my lost wallet was all for not. I was bested by a unique combination of failed automated systems, outdated contact information, and in-person requirements. In short, everything I tried failed.
In our state of joy and wonder my wife resolved to prepare a special cake called a Phanouropita to honor the Saint. While she headed off to the store for ingredients, I went back upstairs to order his icon. Once the cake was prepared, we placed it on our home altar before our icon wall. We offered up prayers of thanksgiving to God and to Saint Phanourios. We also followed the Church’s tradition of praying that God would have mercy on St. Phanourios’s mother. Afterwards we took the cake back into the kitchen and cut it into pieces. While my wife was packaging the heavenly treats to share them with others, I went back into the room where our home altar is to retrieve my phone. I looked at the screen and a notification populated. I had received a text. The message, however, was from a number outside of my contacts. In fact, the number was from another country. I checked the time stamp and called out to my wife and asked, “How long has it been since we prayed?” She replied, “About 20 minutes.” Her response confirmed what I already knew to be true. The text came while we were offering prayers at our home altar. When I opened the text, I was shocked. What I read was simultaneously unbelievable and undeniable. It left us emotionally overwhelmed and overflowing with love gratitude to Christ.
The text message read: (*authentic screen shot)
Many have heard and recited the phrase, “God is wondrous in His Saints.” Well, for us Saint Phanourios has revealed that this pious saying is a present reality. And we have also learned that when you call upon the Saints, sometimes they text you back!
—Saint Phanourios pray for us
A moving true story about St. Phanourios’s unexpected help in finding a lost wallet and the faith, prayer, and heavenly text message that followed.