Priest Predrag Popovic had a dream of Mother Paraskeva — the next morning he met her at church

Priest Predrag Popovic says a dream he had while his wife was pregnant was followed the next morning by a startling real-life encounter at church that he interprets as a spiritual sign connected to Saint Petka.

At the time, Predrag and his wife Ivana were living in Vrnjacka Banja, where he served as a catechist, and they were expecting their daughter Teodora. As the due date approached, everyday worries and hopes mixed with their faith life.

A vision in sleep, a mirror in the nave

Predrag recalls that on the eve of attending a liturgy he dreamed of an image that felt unusually vivid. In his words: "I dreamed of a scene without a background, there was only light. A nun was caressing, kissing and comforting my pregnant wife." He says the dream contained no ordinary surroundings or other people, only a glowing focus on a nun who offered tenderness and reassurance.

Wanting to understand the dream more carefully, and remembering counsel from another priest about reading dreams with caution, Predrag asked the figure in the dream for her identity. "She told me she was Mother Paraskeva," he says — a name he immediately associated with the venerated Saint Petka (Paraskeva) in Orthodox tradition, widely invoked for protection and healing.

The next morning, after arriving at the liturgy, Predrag says he noticed a nun seated next to Ivana who embraced and comforted her in a manner strikingly similar to what he had seen during the night. After the service Ivana introduced the woman: "This is Mother Paraskeva from the Sveta Petka monastery near Sabac." That matching name and gesture deepened Predrag’s sense that the two events were linked.

According to Predrag, he told the nun about the dream — the light, the way she had behaved toward Ivana and the name she had given. The nun listened and reassured Ivana that the birth would go well, calming the couple as they prepared for parenthood. Predrag later described the episode as one of the experiences that left a lasting mark on his spiritual life.

Saint Petka’s feast day falls on October 27, a date associated in popular piety with prayers for mothers, the sick and those in difficulty. Whether the episode is read as a private consolation or as a sign with wider meaning, Predrag says the comfort it brought at a tense moment is what mattered most to him and his family.

Photo: press material from the event