At the end of the liturgy, as is customary, the people came up for the blessing, receiving the antidoron and kissing the priest's right hand. Having finished distributing the antidoron, Isaac entered the altar and a few minutes later left with the deacon through the Royal Doors, heading towards us.

"Synesius!" Fr. John said, addressing the deacon, "do you see this man? And he pointed at me.

- As through me, unworthy, you came to know the Truth and became a Christian, so I found the Messiah-Christ through my brother Nicholas...

-About! This is the same Nicholas! And the deacon rushed to embrace me, kissing my right hand.

"Brother Nicholas!" This deacon is the same Rabbi of Samuel of whom I wrote to you in my last letter. Once a rabbi, and now a servant of the True God, like me...

I couldn't help myself... Tears sprang from my eyes... The joy of all that has happened is difficult to convey in words...

Isaac led the elder and me to a house located near the church. The room we entered was all sparkling with cleanliness and decoration. On the walls hung icons and pictures depicting various events of the Holy History of the Old and New Testaments. The Great Cross was elegantly decorated with wonderful flowers. Their freshness was fragrant, spreading like a wondrous aroma throughout the room. Unable to resist, I asked Father John:

- Who managed to decorate this Cross of Christ with flowers so early?

"My Rebecca," Fr. John answered, "my wife, Mother Rebecca.

-How! Are you a married priest? I asked.

-Of course! Otherwise, I would have violated the canon that forbids a secular priest to be unmarried.

At that moment, the door opened, and a young wife entered the room, full of modesty. She greeted us cordially when Fr. John introduced us to her, and thanked us for the honor of being with us on such a feast day.

"This is my wife Rebecca," said Fr. John, introducing his mother.

Soon the deacon Synesius also entered, together with his wife, the twenty-year-old Rachel, who in baptism received the name of Rhoda, in memory of the same servant Rhoda, who opened the door to the Apostle Peter when he, freed by an angel from the chains of prison, came secretly to the house where the disciples of Christ were gathering. This is narrated in the 12th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles by the Holy Evangelist Luke.