MOON VISIONS, A TESTIMONY BY MARTIN JOHN SOLLANYCH


Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

The talent I received was on Holy Thursday, 1985. It was only two days before I was to be baptized and I still had plenty of doubts.

I was reading some of Acts in the Bible when I asked the Lord to send His Holy Spirit to help me have faith. Immediately I felt elated and this idea prompted me to find an astronomy book with a photograph of the full moon. I found a composite photo (made from pictures taken with shadows of the terrain) and turned the photo upside down to orient the North Pole towards the top (telescopic views are usually inverted). I stared at the picture marveling the moon's loveliness.

I became filled with the Holy Spirit and I remembered what my friend (God Father to be) had discussed with me. He thought the sun and earth and moon could symbolically represent the Holy Trinity. The Sun would represent God the Father source of all power and life. The earth would represent Jesus and the pale ghostly light of the moon would be appropriate for the Holy Spirit. I kept looking at the moon when suddenly I saw a cross shape clearly in the centre of the moon, formed by the Apennine and Causacus mountains! As the picture of Christ on the moon unfolded before my eyes I dropped to my knees in awe and fear and crossed my chest.


THE LAST JUDGMENT

Jesus was in profile in a cross shape with His face formed by the Lunar Feature known as Palus Putredinus (not a very flattering name for the face of Christ). Lurking behind His head is a demon but He is protected by an angel which forms a Halo with wings over the top of His head. His body appears to be standing on a mountain. His arms were stretched out in the form of the Last Judgment with worshipers rising up His body and moving up one arm to paradise which is generally shaped like a dove. The gently scalloped craters in the north resemble angel's wings leading up towards heaven.

People on His other side appeared to be falling off His arm to Hell. The rough foreboding terrain in the south looks like fire and brimstone. A composite of faces such as a wolf, human, serpent, and horned creature make up what is perceived to be Satan, down towards the bottom. After seeing all I could handle from this picture, I turned the page and gazed at a picture of the full moon as it normally appears when it is full bathed in light.


THE NATIVITY

Immediately near the centre of the moon a profile of mother and child was noticeable, the mother bathed in white light and the child with darker head surrounded by glowing light. There was no doubt this was the Nativity. In the subdued background were the shepherds and Joseph. A white glowing light was suspended over Mary's head. I quickly began to sketch all things I was shown. The next evening I was baptized and felt more peaceful than I ever had before.

During the next several weeks my anxiety grew. I wondered how I would ever get this important vision out to the world. I started larger sketches, and then made plans to begin painting the nativity scene since the sketches were the most complete.

I decided to write a letter to the Pope to explain my conversion and gifts of the Holy Spirit. However, I didn't receive any reply. By October, 1987, I had finally finished my Nativity painting and I presented it to our parish priest. He said "It's better than I could do" and placed it in the school.


FACE OF JESUS

During the next year I completed another painting of the face of Jesus in profile (part of the Last Judgment scene on the moon). During this time I also started two large sketches of the moon on 4'x 4' particleboard. As I looked at the expanse of the moon I thought that God must have more pictures to find. I began to look for them.


THE TEMPTATION IN THE GARDEN

I scanned other parts of the nativity moon photo and noticed a snake form in a spotlighted area near the south pole. Upon further study I sketched the temptation of Eve by the serpent in the garden. It features a tree of knowledge containing several hideous and foreboding faces. I began the painting of the temptation and completed it in 1997.


THE TRANSFIGURATION

In 1989 I began the Transfiguration which I found near the north Pole of the full moon photo (with the nativity scene). This painting features three large faces on a 2' x 4' canvas. Jesus is clearly the "most high" in the middle. This is a controversial subject to me. I feel that Elijah on the left of Jesus is God the Father (since Jesus sits "at the right hand of the Father"). Similarly, the face of Moses on the left of Jesus could correspond to the Holy Spirit who "proceeds from the Father and the Son". Thus far, I have not yet completed this painting to my satisfaction


THE LAST SUPPER

The latest sketching of the Last Supper I started in 1991, after seeing what looked like disciples at a table. The Last Supper also appears on the full moon photo direct above the nativity scene and below the Transfiguration. Finally, while at cursillo in May of 1992, spending time adoring the Blessed Sacrament, I realized the bright light in the middle of the Last Supper was the monstrance. This fuelled me with new vigor to begin the Last Supper, even though the Transfiguration remains incomplete. I painted Jesus in four different forms in this painting without understanding what I was painting. One figure is a large face and encompassing the transubstantiation. Another figure has Jesus as a face on a bleeding red heart shaped body joined by a blue Holy Spirit and a piece of bread to a normal face of Jesus. One day I was thinking about these figures as they applied to "through Him, with Him, in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all Glory and Honour is yours, now and forever, Amen."


PERSONAL REVELATIONS

I also wrote a letter to the Archbishop expressing my concerns about this Moon revelation. He did send me an extensive reply explaining how this could be a personal revelation and not a public revelation. This means that the church cannot officially recognize nor aid the promotion of this revelation but I may carry on doing what I believe God wants me to do. I felt a little less anxious after this but still worry about things from time to time.


FUTURE PAINTINGS

Some other "events" which I have found in the moon photos but have only briefly sketched are: Noah's Ark with the Lord closing the door, The Ten Commandments with Moses and his followers facing his opposition and the Golden Calf, the trial of Jesus before Caiphas, and the Baptism of a baby.