What Scientists Have Said About the Miraculous Chapel of St. Theodora in Vasta

By John Sanidopoulos

What we know of the life of St. Theodora of Vasta comes entirely from local tradition, but her little chapel in southern Greece is known throughout the world and visited by thousands every year.

The Chapel of St. Theodora dates approximately to the 12th century and it is entirely made of stone. What is extraordinary about this church however is that there currently grow 17 enormous trees on the roof of this small structure. Most of them are over 30m high, and some of them are over 1m in diameter. Many of the trees weigh over 1 ton. Yet, even if the roof of the little church is thin and without any special support, it remains standing for centuries now as if by a miracle. Scientists have studied the case and they confess their inability to explain how the trees grow on such a thin roof, without destroying the church. The little church is under great pressure, and over time some minor restoration has been necessary, but that is mainly due to the curiosity of some inexperienced people who have tried to “understand the mystery”. Unprofessional interventions have affected the church’s architecture, though only to a small degree.

According to tradition, St. Theodora, prior to her martyrdom, prayed: “May my body become a church, my blood a river, and my hair trees.” Today this is exactly what one sees when visiting this holy shrine. On the spot where her martyred body is said to lay, locals built a church in her honor. A river also runs beneath this chapel and the trees have grown above it.

The little church is currently under the protection of the Metropolis of the region, as well as under that of the Minister of Culture as a Byzantine monument of national value.

Believers without hesitation see this church as an unexplainable miracle, celebrating the feast of St. Theodora annually on Bright Tuesday for centuries, until 1956 when her feast was transferred to September 11th, due to a certain resemblance in story with St. Theodora of Alexandria who is also celebrated that day.

But what do scientists say about the miracle in Vasta?

In 2003, at the Fourth Symposium of “Archaeometry” in Greece, a geophysical report on the little church in Vasta was presented. Researchers from the University of Patras came to Vasta especially to study “the miracle”. They decided to make an ultrasound test, and to analyze each part of the walls. The results of the research offered the researchers the necessary answers in order to receive the approvals needed for the complete restoration of the monument. They observed how the roots have grown through the small free spaces in between the stones of the wall, all the way to the ground. The walls are under constant pressure, and the building has become “a living body”.

The archaeological findings led to the same conclusion: the way the roots have followed this path and the fact that the church and its roof are untouched appear to be in fact a miracle, which is unique in this world, and unexplainable.

Eleftherios Beligiannis, an Engineer from Athens, said in 1986: “Since the winds that blow in that area have the power to uproot trees, it is clear how much force the 17 trees press upon the roof”.

Loukos Constantinos, a Geologist of Corinth, said in 1987: “There is no geological explanation. It is a continuous miracle”.

George Raptis, a Silviculturist of Nafpaktos, said in 1992: “The entire phenomenon is beyond any of man’s logical, natural and scientific explanations”.

Eleni Stavrogiannis-Perry, an Architect from Kalamata, said in 1993: “The phenomenon is scientifically unexplainable. Considering the position of the church, its temporary construction and its age, the heavy weight and the winds should have gradually destroyed it. But it is still standing, after so many centuries, without any serious damage”.

Anastasios Tinkas, an Archaeologist, Historian and Theologian from Attica, said: “The entire growth, existence and life of the trees on the roof of the little church of the pious martyr Theodora is amazing, beyond any man’s natural reasoning and explanations. This shows a rare characteristic: God’s intervention for His creature, the making of the miracle”.

Mr. Pallas, Director of Antiquities from Athens, said: "Under the laws of nature, at least the large trees, because of the slope, height and perimeter, should have destroyed it. To stand imperiously, is something that science cannot give an explanation".

P. Makrigiannis, a Geologist, said in 1993: “Seventeen giants supported on nothing! All these huge trees are rooted on nothing, or better said, on a roof which is only a few centimeters thick! However, the biggest surprise awaits us inside. There is not even the smallest root coming through the old walls. There is no crack caused by them! When the wind blows through one of the huge trees of the church, its roots form such strong levers, that the small settlement should crash immediately. As a geologist, I know very well that the walls should have been crushed and broken down only under one tree, and they are seventeen!"

It should be noted that this church is also in the Guinness Book of World Records as a miraculous wonder.

To read more about St. Theodora and her miraculous chapel, order my book Saint Theodora of Vasta, which can be ordered for $10.00 by submitting a payment through the DONATION button here.

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Elder Ambrose Foretold the September 11th Attacks

Towards the end of August 2001, someone asked Elder Ambrose of Dadiou to pray to Saint Nektarios to help him, and the Elder said:

“Let the Saint be, my child. He is now in America running to save lives”.

On September 11th, the disaster at the Twin Towers took place. Some months earlier he had seen what was going to happen and had warned that it was going to change history.

"A great evil will begin in America, and not just in September. Alas!"

He had given this warning to the Metropolitan of Sisaniou, Anthony, in one of the latter’s visits, in the presence of other people. However, he did not give any explanation.

"Your Eminence, wait and see what calamity will befall the Americans in two months."

Read also: Elder Ambrose of Dadiou: Prophecies and Charismatic Gifts

Elder Ambrose is pictured hugging the Metropolitan of Sisaniou, Anthony. 

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Perfect Love

By St. Kosmas the Aitolos

Perfect love is to sell all your possessions and to give alms, and even to sell yourself as a slave, and whatever you get to give in alms.

In the East there was a bishop from whose province a hundred slaves were taken captive. He sold all of his possessions and ransomed them. Only a child of a widow remained enslaved. What did the bishop do? He shaved off his beard and went and begged the master who held the child to free it and to keep him in its place. And so it happened.

The bishop lived a life of great hardship, but because of his patience God found him worthy of performing miracles. Later his master freed him and he returned to his episcopal duties. It is this kind of love that God wants us also to have. Is there anyone here who has this kind of love? No! Don't sell yourself, sell only your possessions and give alms. You can't do this? Give half, a third, a fourth. You can't even do this? [Then] don't take your brother's bread, don't persecute him, don't slander him.

How do we expect to be saved, my brethren? One thing seems too much for us, the other too bitter. It's true, God is compassionate, but he's also just. He also has an iron rod. So if we want to be saved, we should have love for God and for our brethren.

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The Devil

By St. Kosmas the Aitolos

And so, my brethren, the first order of angels of which we spoke earlier fell because of pride and sought to be glorified equally with God. From a luminous and most brilliant being, the angel became the darkest devil and the enemy of people. He is in hell where he burns forever. When we hear the word devil, it is he who was once the first among angels; it is he who moves people to pride, to murder, to theft; it is he who enters into a dead person, causing him to appear living, and we call him a ghost. It is he who enters a living person who takes on the image of Christ, of the Panagia, or some Saint, and running up and down like a person possessed, says he performs miracles. It is the devil who enters into a person and causes him to become an epileptic and demoniac. But may God be glorified, for he's given us three weapons with which to fight him.

If there are some here who are possessed and wish to learn the cure, it is easy: confession, fasting, and prayer. The more a person goes to confession, fasts, and prays, the more the devil burns and flees.

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The Antichrist

By St. Nikolai Velimirovich

"I came in My Father's name, and you received Me not; if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive" (John 5:43).

Who is this "other" who will come in his own name, and whom sinful men will prefer to receive rather than Christ the Lord? It is he who does not carry the cross and does not walk the narrow path; he who is not a lover of man but rather a hater of man; he who does not struggle against sin but rather struggles for sin; he who loves impurity and spreads impurity; he who is a soldier of eternal death and not of eternal life; he who flatters the godless and loves every passion and vice: he is Antichrist.

He will come in his own name and not in the name of God, and all those who did not receive Christ will receive him. He will be more dear to them, for he will embrace all their crooked and sinful paths. He will be more dear to them than Christ, for alongside the difficult path of Christ he will build a path smooth as ice, over which men will easily slide, not thinking about the abyss to which it leads them.

The Lord Jesus Christ came in the name of the eternal salvation of men, eternal life, eternal truth and eternal justice. Antichrist will come in his own name, that is, in the name of eternal destruction, death, falsehood and injustice. When the Antichrist comes among his own, his own will gladly receive him. In fact, all those for whom Christ is difficult will gladly receive Antichrist, for he and his path will appear easy to them. Only when it is too late will the foolish see that they were deceived, but there will be no salvation for them. When they begin to slide into eternal night, into the jaws of the fetid serpent, then it will be too late; repentance will not be accepted and there will be no salvation. The foolish banquet of earthly sinners and Antichrist will be over quickly, in the blink of an eye, and the house of impure joy will turn into a hopeless prison of remorse and misery. Then it will be too late.

O man-loving Lord, the only friend of man, Thee only do we know and recognize. Thee, only Thee, do we receive as our Savior and salvation. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.

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Nativity of the Theotokos Resource Page

On the Nativity of the Theotokos - Various Church Fathers

On the Nativity of the Theotokos - St. Andrew of Crete

On The Nativity Of The Theotokos - St. Dimitri of Rostov

The Nativity of the Theotokos - St. Nikolai Velimirovich

The Conception by St. Anna of the Most Holy Theotokos

Homily: The Reversal of the Barrenness of Saint Anna

St. John the Damascene: On the Chaste Couple Joachim and Anna

The Relics of Saint Anna, Grandmother of our Lord

On Bearing a Child Through the Aid of Saint Anna

The Veneration of Sts. Joachim and Anna According to Elder Paisios

Video: The Home of Sts. Joachim and Anna in Jerusalem

Saint Anna's Chapel in Dumont, Colorado

The Sultan and the Oil Lamp of Saint Anna

The Error of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin

Patriarch Bartholomew on the Immaculate Conception

Panagia Katsimikados: Sacred Shrines Which Honor the Nativity of the Theotokos (1)

Panagia Plataniotissa: Sacred Shrines Which Honor the Nativity of the Theotokos (2)

Panagia Tsambikas: Sacred Shrines Which Honor the Nativity of the Theotokos (3)

The Athonite Island of Kyra Panagia: Sacred Shrines Which Honor the Nativity of the Theotokos (4)

Panagia Vourniotissa of Tinos: Sacred Shrines Which Honor the Nativity of the Theotokos (5)

Panagia Vrontiani of Samos: Sacred Shrines Which Honor the Nativity of the Theotokos (6)

The Icon of Sophia, the Wisdom of God of Kiev

Saint Athanasios Koulakiotis the New Martyr of Thessaloniki

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Panagia Vrontiani of Samos: Sacred Shrines Which Honor the Nativity of the Theotokos (6)

By John Sanidopoulos

The Monastery of Panagia Vrontiani or Vrontes is located 450 meters above sea level on the island of Samos. It is located in an overgrown area, about 20 kilometers south of the villge Vourliotes. The oldest Monastery on the island, it was established originally around 1476 and renovated many times. This was first done in 1566 by the monks (and brothers) Iakovos and Makarios, who dedicated it to the Nativity of the Theotokos. It was also renovated in 1702 and 1960.

It is said the Monastery gets its name "Vrontiani" or "Vrontes" because of the strong thunders (vrontes) that strike during the autumn rains in September (the month that the Monastery celebrates). According to another widespread opinion, the Monastery took its name after a wealthy family that used to live near the settlement of Kokkari near the Monastery, which is why it is also named "Kokkariani".

This Monastery is famous for its superb icons and frescoes and for its marvellous gold inlaid wood-carved iconostasis. Of the old wall paintings in the katholikon church all that remains today are small sections in the holy bema and the arch of the dome.

Around the main church are the cells where the monks used to live.

In the southeastern part of the building is the small chapel of the Transfiguration of the Savior, with its wonderful wood-carved icon screen. The view from there is excellent and visitors can gaze at the deep blue sea, all the way to Asia Minor.

The little library of the monastery, which includes books and codexes from 1676 up to today, is of great interest.

In the summer of 1999 there was a great fire which destroyed many parts of the Monastery.

The Monastery celebrates on September 8th.

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Panagia Vourniotissa of Tinos: Sacred Shrines Which Honor the Nativity of the Theotokos (5)

By John Sanidopoulos

One of the most significant Orthodox pilgrimage sites on the island of Tinos is Panagia Vourniotissa (named after the mountain village), situated near Agapi village. It is officially celebrated on September 8th (Nativity of the Theotkos) and on the 24th of the same month (Panagia Myrtidiotissa).

History

There once was a chapel dedicated to Saint John the Forerunner on the location where today lies the church, on the mountain slope. Today, the walls of that small church form the southern side of the women's gallery. According to tradition, in those years there was a mural of the Platytera (the Widest Embrace) which was removed and the icon of Saint John took its place.

The discovery of the wonderoworking icon was made on the 8th of September in 1670. According to tradition, the night before, the villagers of Sklavochorio had gone down the steep northern coast to fish. At the crack of dawn they saw a strange light emerging out of the sea waves and approaching the shore. One of them fell in the water and approached the light. To his surprise he realized that it was the icon of Panagia Vrefokratousa (the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus), which had been probably swallowed by the sea following some shipwreck.

The fishermen venerated the holy icon and made their way back home. When they reached Saint John's Chapel, they placed it on the Holy Altar and went outside for a while. When they tried to pick it up again, they realized it was impossible, as the icon seemed to be too heavy for them to lift. They returned running to the village and informed the priest and their fellow villagers what had happened. The Orthodox villagers of Sklavochorio and the Catholic ones from Agapi village then formed a holy procession and headed over to the chapel. Following a Paraklesis Service the first foundation stone for the church of the Panagia was placed. Construction lasted till the 24th of September of the following year. The church was given its present layout thanks to the donations and the labor of the inhabitants of both villages.

A 1778 document informs us that Methodia, a nun from Kechrovounio Monastery, bought two fields near the church. When she passed away, the church and the villages came under the jurisdiction of the Monastery. Ever since 1925 the preservation of the complex and the organizing of the feasts are undertaken by the "Vourniotissa Society". The wonderworking icon of the Panagia is located today at Kechrovounio Monastery.

Miracles

1. An iconographer from Arnados went to the church one morning to work. Three days passed and he had not returned home, making his family think he had gone missing. His wife and children, now very worried, went to the church to see if he was there, and they found him. He was there working and had not touched the food he brought with him those three days. When they asked him why he did not eat his food, he replied that it was not even noon time and that he was too busy working to stop and eat before lunch! He was amazed when he found out that three days had passed without him realizing it.

2. A woman was cleaning the church, and as it was getting late she worried that she would have to spend the night there. A villager came that night in order to molest the woman. Surprised he saw lights in the church and it was full of people chanting. He entered the church, followed the vigil, then returned to his farmhouse. In the morning he was surprised to find, when after asking the woman and the other villagers, that there never was a vigil in the church the night before. The villager thus donated to the church his land which was adjacent to the church.

3. A villager whose wife was seriously ill went to the fields surrounding the church to plow it. Facing the church, with tears in his eyes, he supplicated to the Panagia to help his wife. A nun suddenly appeared before him, and told him from that moment his wife was well. The nun then disappeared as suddenly as she appeared. The villager, full of expectation, returned home immediately and found his wife well.

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The Tomb of Saint Kassiani in Kasos

St. Kassiani, best known for her hymnography, became a nun and founded a monastery in Constantinople at a young age. Later in life she traveled to Italy with another nun named Evdokia. From there she went to the island of Kasos near Crete, where she reposed on September 7th around 890 AD. Her body was placed in a larnax and eventually a chapel dedicated to her was built over this. This 9th century larnax survives today in Kasos together with a plaque from that time indicating the year of Kassiani's death with a cross.

According to local tradition, the larnax no longer contains the relics of St. Kassiani, which at one point were transferred to the island of Icarus. She is clebrated throughout Greece on September 7th, but especially on the island of Kasos.

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St. Phanourios and the Asia Minor Catastrophe

By John Sanidopoulos

In Aivali (Kydonia) in Asia Minor, across from the island of Lesvos, there was a small church dedicated to St. Phanourios, built well before the time of the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922. Within this church was an old wondwerworking icon of St. Phanourios.

August 27, 1922, the feast of St. Phanourios, would mark the last time the oil lamps in this church would be lit by a woman who was unaware she was lighting these lamps for the last time, but who later would save the icon from the impending disaster.

On August 29, 1922 the Greek army abandoned Aivali and allowed the Turks to take over. Kydonia was 95% Greek at the time, and since they had no problems with the Turks in the past few years they decided to stay in their homes and hope for mercy. They figured that if they welcomed the Turks with gifts and warmth then they would be safe. After all, they figured, the Koran does say not to kill a person who receives you with honor and as a conqueror. However there was a tremendous hatred towards the Greeks. Kemal wanted the complete obliteration of Greeks and Armenians from Asia Minor. Leaders decided therefore to have all Armenians and those who fought in battle to flee.

On the 5th of September the last ship with the Greek army left Asia Minor and the next day the Turkish army was to enter Aivali. They were to be received with music, food and gifts. However the Turks were informed that the Greeks were storing weapons in Aivali. The Turks came in and began the destruction of ecclesiastical and political structures. That same night they were selling ecclesiastical items at a bazaar in the port. Fear and terror obliterated the hope of the Greeks that night.

Men were gathered by the Turkish army for execution, but they needed to receive orders from Kemal to proceed. Kemal stopped the execution on the basis that the Greeks received them warmly. The Greek plan worked for about 24 hours.

On September 7th the Turkish army left and the militia entered. They ignored the command of Mustafa Kemal on grounds that the Greeks stored weapons and soldiers, and they began a slaughter. Men between the ages of 18 and 45 were gathered and taken out of the city to the mines of Freneli and two adjacent canyons. They took them to a hill named Bogia and slaughtered them with machetes.

Metropolitan Gregory was warning the people from mid-August that a slaughter was coming. He had been arrested twice by the Turks and knew of their hatred for the Greeks and Armenians. From that time he was organizing kayaks and ships to take the people to nearby Lesvos for safety, which he did till mid-September. In the end, he managed to save thousands of lives this way.

During the days of slaughter, mothers hid their children from Turks who would enter the houses to kill and rape. They would burn off the eyebrows and cut the hair of their sons. They would put on them eyeliner, perfume and dress them like girls. Girls they would stuff their clothes to make them appear pregnant, and would cut their hair and spread dirt on their face to make them look old.

On September 18th the Turks gave the people of Kydonia 24 hours to leave for Lesvos. Their hopes were placed on Metropolitan Gregory to organize for their departure through kayaks and Greek and American ships. Mothers took their children to the ships for salvation. At one point, Turks saw an 18 year old boy dressed as a girl board the ship, and they immediately took him and killed him in front of his mother.

On September 19th a woman left her home with her son for the kayaks. As she passed the Chapel of St. Phanourios she saw the oil lamp was lit, and wondered who in this chaos did such a thing. She was pulled to go in and venerate the icon for the last time. The icon was full of gold and silver offerings, owing to its wonderworking nature. This icon had become famous all the way to Smyrna because of its many miracles.

The woman decided to take the icon with her, knowing full well that the Turks did not allow the taking of any valuables, including icons, onto the ships. She hid it under the clothes of her child and left.

When she arrived at the ships the Turks checked her for any valuables, and found under the clothes of her child the icon of St. Phanourios. The Turks saw this to be an especially valuable icon, so they took it and put it with the other treasures. But the woman was filled with love for St. Phanourios and could not bear to see this. She decided to give her only possession, a ring, in return for the icon. The Turks agreed to the trade. She was given also another small icon. She took these and boarded the kayak for Lesvos.

The woman aged and her son grew up and got married in Lesvos. He left with his bride for South Africa where he gained riches. He eventually died and his childless wife gave her riches to philanthropical works and to the Church. She met with the priest of St. George the New Martyr in New Kydonia, Lesvos and gave him the icon of St. Phanourios to which he was commissioned to have a church built to house the icon. This was done and it was consecrated in 2002.

Today this church dedicated to St. Phanourios is at the Church of St. George the New Martyr in New Kydonia and houses the wonderworking icon of St. Phanourios together with its gold and silver offerings. From this church one could see old Kydonia across the sea.

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6th Century Baptistry Found in Kosovo

A historic baptistery structure has been unearthed at one of the most important ancient sites in Kosovo by Turkish archaeologists. It is the first such excavation to be carried out by Turkish archaeologists in Europe.

September 7, 2012

Hurriyet Daily News

At an excavation site in Kosovo’s ancient city of Ulpiana, a team of Turkish archaeologists have discovered a baptistery dating from the Byzantine period.

The archaeological team, consisting of archaeology students from Istanbul’s Mimar Sinan University and headed by Professor Haluk Çetinkaya, excavated in a 250 square-meter area, unearthing an important part of the sixth-century city. Mimar Sinan University graduate Elvis Shala, a native of Kosovo, also joined in the excavation, which lasted 70 days.

Work at the site began on July 2, Çetinkaya said. “Baptisteries are rarely found in this region. We have succeeded in making a very important finding, as part of the first excavation Turkey has carried out abroad.

In accordance with a five-year agreement, we will continue to work at the same site. This is very important, because it shows that Turkey has progressed in the field of archaeology, and is now in a position to provide consultation to other countries. We worked very carefully and quickly, without missing anything. It is not easy to carry out an excavation like this in such a short period of time. We worked 10 hours a day to unearth the remains of the structure.”

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Turkey’s Pogrom of September 6-7, 1955

Britain’s Role, the U.S. Response and Lessons for Today

Gene Rossides

September 13, 2005

Greek News

Britain opposed freedom and democracy for Cyprus following World War II and bears the original and primary responsibility for the post-World War II tragedies that have befallen Cyprus. While other colonies were gaining their freedom, Cyprus was told by the British Minister of State for Colonial Affairs Harry Hopkinson, during a House of Commons debate in 1954, that “[t]here can be no question of any change of sovereignty in Cyprus” and that “there are certain territories in the Commonwealth which, owing to their particular circumstances, can never expect to be fully independent.”

Following the Hopkinson “never” statement, Greece decided to bring an application for self-determination to the 1954 UN General Assembly session on behalf of the people of Cyprus. Britain opposed the application. Although Turkey had renounced all rights to Cyprus in the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, Britain claimed that the presence of an eighteen percent Turkish Cypriot minority was an obstacle to a solution. Britain called for a tripartite conference among Britain, Greece and Turkey which was held in London in late August and early September 1955 to discuss the situation in Cyprus. The conference ended in failure. Britain, however, accomplished her objective: greater Turkish involvement in the matter to blunt the Greek Government’s efforts on behalf of self-determination for the people of Cyprus.

The Turkish government, to demonstrate its interest in Cyprus at the time of the tripartite conference, planned and organized riots against its Greek citizens and residents in Istanbul and Izmir. It exploded a bomb in the Turkish Consulate in Salonika, Greece, and a false report was spread that Kemal Ataturk’s birthplace had been bombed and destroyed. The following account from an article by John Phillips in Harper’s Magazine in June 1956 describes the carnage:

“On the fifth of September 1955, a bomb exploded under singular circumstances inside the Turkish Consulate at Salonika in Northern Greece. The Turkish press and radio, over which the government is influential, blared out the incendiary and false report that the nearby birthplace of Kemal Ataturk, a sort of Turkish Mount Vernon on foreign soil, had also been destroyed. The events of the following day (September 6, 1955) in Turkey were planned and executed with the same discipline the Nazis used in their onslaughts on the Jews. Squads of marauders were driven to the shopping area in trucks and taxis, waving picks and crowbars, consulting lists of addresses, and the police stood by smiling. Greek priests were reported circumcised, scalped, burned in bed; Greek women raped. The Greek Consulate was destroyed in Izmir. Just nine out of eighty Greek Orthodox churches in Istanbul were left undesecrated; twenty-nine were demolished. Ghouls invaded the huge Greek cemetery where Patriarchs of Constantinople are buried, opened mausoleums, dug up graves, and flung bones into the streets; corpses waiting burial were lanced with knives. There had been no comparable destruction of Greek sanctuaries since the fall of Constantinople.

The Turkish government did its best to keep the world from knowing. A familiar heavy hand fell upon the press, and editors who criticized Premier Menderes were jailed again.”

The New York Times on September 7, 1955 reported the riots in a front page story but did not do an adequate follow-up of the events nor any investigative reporting.

On September 13, 1955 the New York Times stated that “The amount of damage has been assessed unofficially at $300,000,000.” U.S. Senator Homer Capehart, who was in Ankara at the time, said the riots were “ghastly and unbelievable.” He estimated the damage at $500 million. Turkey said it would pay compensation to the victims. It paid very little to a limited number of victims over a drawn-out period of years.

If you add interest at 5% compounded annually for the 50 years since 1955, the amount owed to the victims would be several billion dollars.

There was very little coverage in the rest of the American press and media and little has been written in the U.S. about this barbarism by the Turkish government since Mr. Phillips article.

Now, 50 years later, we have an exceptional account of the catastrophe by Dr. Speros Vryonis, Jr., one of the world’s most eminent scholars of Ottoman and Byzantine history. His magesterial work: The Mechanism of Catastrophe: The Turkish Pogrom of September 6-7, 1955, and the Destruction of the Greek Community of Istanbul, was published this year by greekworks.com of New York. It numbers over 700 pages.

Dr. Vryonis devoted many years to the research and writing of this extraordinary book. He dedicated the book to Demetrios Kaloumenos the photographer for his two-fold contribution. First his copious photography, done under dangerous circumstances, and for his personal record of the events. He graciously acknowledged the financial assistance of the Michael and Mary Jaharis Family Foundation without which this monumental work would not have become a reality.

In the introductory chapter Dr. Vryonis describes the Greek community of Istanbul on the eve of September 6, 1955 who numbered about 100,000. Under the terms of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne regarding the exchange of populations, the Greek population of Istanbul and the Muslim community residing in Western Thrace were exempted from the exchange process. From about 300,000 Greeks in Istanbul in 1922, the number in 1955 had fallen to about 100,000. They had achieved some limited success under exceptionally difficult circumstances and years of discrimination and harassment by the Turks who repeatedly violated the terms of the Lausanne Treaty.

In chapter one Dr. Vryonis describes in detail the existing and newly organized institutions that were the instruments of destruction used by the Menderes government in the pogrom of September 6-7, 1955.

In chapter two Dr. Vryonis depicts the events of the nine hours of the pogrom, from 5:30 p.m. on September 6, 1955 to 2:30 a.m. on September 7, 1955, which destroyed the Greek community of Istanbul. “Pogrom” is defined as government instigated and organized violence against an ethnic minority.

He writes: “the events were traced to the five geographical areas in which they transpired….The pogrom’s intent was twofold: first it was a planned and successful effort to destroy the forty-five Greek communities spread out over the vast area of greater Istanbul and its environs; second, it served certain domestic and foreign policies of the Menderes regime.”

The government brought many thousands of Turks from Asia Minor and Thrace to join the pogromists in Istanbul. They were “provided with the crowbars, acetylene torches, clubs, spades, pickaxes, dynamite, and gasoline (for the planned arson) that would be the tools” of the destruction. (p. 99) Approximately 100,000 Turkish citizens participated in the pogrom. (p. 68)

Dr. Vryonis describes the system of attack in three waves. The first wave broke down doors and windows and moved on to the next store, dwelling or church. The second wave fell upon the contents and the third wave finished the work of destruction both inside and outside a building but not before it had thoroughly looted the property. (p. 546)

The material damage to the Greek community was enormous:

- 1000 homes destroyed and 2500 partially destroyed and all were looted;

- 4000-4500 stores were looted and destroyed or damaged;

- Thirty Greek males were killed; and

- 200 Greek women raped.

The damage to the Greek Orthodox churches was enormous and is documented in detail by Dr. Vryonis in chapter five:

- of the 83 Greek Orthodox Churches, 59 were burned and most others suffered serious damages to the icons and ancient paintings of great value;

- the tombs of Patriarchs were destroyed;

- Christian cemeteries were defiled.

In chapter three, Dr. Vryonis examines “the pogrom’s damages, both moral and material,” and in chapter four he details “the efforts of various organizations or individuals to put a financial value on them.” Turkey took actions to limit and reduce the claims for damages and paid only a small percentage of the reduced claims over a period of eleven years.

Menderes official version of what happened was broadcast by radio on the evening of September 7, 1955. It was replete with falsehoods and he tried to blame the communists.

British role and responsibility

Britain had made strenuous efforts in 1954 and 1955 to change Turkey’s policy of being neutral towards Cyprus and to get Turkey on its side despite the terms of the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 in which Turkey had renounced all rights to Cyprus. Britain successfully pressured Turkey to change its neutral position and support Britain in the UN and at the Tripartite conference in London. British Foreign Secretary Harold Macmillan led the effort. Dr. Vryonis states that “Macmillan prevailed upon Turkey to alter its policy on Cyprus and make vigorous representations as to its claims and rights on the island.”

Prior to August 1955, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mehmet Fuat Koprulu had declared that Cyprus was a British concern and not a Turkish concern. On August 24, 1955, Prime Minister Menderes replaced Koprulu with Fatin Fustu Zorlu, a virulent anti-Greek and anti-minority zealot.

In a British Foreign Office memorandum of September 14, 1954, at a time when Greece was bringing its appeal for self determination for Cyprus to the UN and the British were courting Turkey to change its neutral stance on Cyprus, a British official stated: “ A few riots in Ankara would do us nicely.”

Dr.Vryonis writes: “[t]he facts that have come to light are sufficient to suggest that, by the early fall of 1954, the British government may have made vague, informal references on the desirability of some demonstrations in Istanbul as a political barometer of public, and violent, Turkish sentiment on the subject of Cyprus.”

The American reaction

On September 18, 1955, 12 days after the devastating attacks against the Greek community of Istanbul and when there was sufficient evidence of the Turkish governments involvement, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles wrote almost identical letters to Greek Prime Minister Alexandros Papagos and Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes. These letters, in effect equating the victims with the victimizers will “live in infamy.”

The British Foreign Office applauded Dulles’ action in sending common letters to the Greek and Turkish governments. Mr. J. A. Thomson of the Foreign Office Southern Department wrote on a Foreign Office copy of Dulles’ letters the following:

“This message has produced a lively resentment among the Greeks. But it no doubt will do good in the long run. It is satisfactory that Mr. Dulles has reversed the earlier line of the State Department which blamed the Turks and favored the Greeks.

The [British] Secretary of State has sent a message to Mr. Dulles expressing his appreciation of his appeal….”

Lessons for today

The Turkish military made no objection to Prime Minister Menderes actions. The Chief of Staff of the Turkish military promised Menderes protection. On May 27, 1960 a military junta took over the government for a number of reasons in a basically bloodless coup. It then arrested and tried Prime Minister Menderes and his cohorts, found them guilty with a few exceptions and executed Menderes, Zorlu and others.

The military’s direct intervention into the political life of Turkey tightened the government’s grip on the Greek minority and the other minorities– the Kurds, Armenians, Jews, Alawis, Assyrians, Christians and others. Dr. Vryonis writes that the military:

“intensified its suppression of the rights and freedoms of ethnic and religious minorities, as well as of the country’s citizens as a whole” and “proved itself to be a worthy successor to the oppressive regime of the Young Turks. The demographic decline of both the Greek and Jewish communities in Turkey during the latter half of the twentieth century was a direct result of the Menderes and post-Menderes policies and persecution of minorities….

Indeed, the entire history of the last fifty years of Turkish society is tied to the imperialism of the Turkish general staff, which has successfully utilized its forces to impose its territorial aggression and conquest. In effect, the spirit of the pogrom of 1955, whose motive force was the final destruction and expulsion of the Greeks from Istanbul, was continued and finally consummated by successive governments and the activities of the Turkish general staff…General Cemal Gursel proved to be a vigorous and willing heir to the pogrom’s spirit…Furthermore, after the invasion of Cyprus in 1974…these policies were reconceived to carry out the ethnic cleansing of the Greek Cypriot majority in the occupied north. This policy, intended to Turkify northern Cyprus, was attended by willful destruction that strongly resembled the acts perpetrated by the Menderes government against the Greeks of Istanbul. This ethnic cleansing was also applied later, with U.S. weapons, in the destruction of Kurdish villages of southeast Anatolia, which reduced the region to a semi-desolate landscape.” (pp 558-59)

Dr. Vryonis discusses the 198-page 1976 report of the Commission on Human Rights of the Council of Europe in which the commission found Turkey and its army guilty of repeated violations of the European Convention on Human Rights. He quotes the January 23, 1977 London Sunday Times statement on the report: “It amounts to a massive indictment of the Ankara government for the murder, rape and looting by its army in Cyprus during and after the Turkish invasion of summer 1974.” The U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger aided and abetted Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus.

Dr. Vryonis importantly points out that Turkish policy against the Greeks has added the Aegean. “In the last two decades, the policy of Turkish military aggrandizement has shifted to the Aegean Sea and the Greek islands there. The build-up of land, air and naval forces (including numerous landing craft) has been accompanied by various claims on Greek islands, demands for their demilitarization and increasing violation of Greek airspace, including civil-aviation corridors.”

Dr. Vryonis concludes his study as follows:

“Although the pogrom of September 6-7, 1955, occurred half a century ago, its legacy is caught up, even today, in a larger web of regional and international interests. This web is, indeed, the key to understanding important parts of this ongoing history. The ‘success’ of the Turkish military behemoth during the last fifty years has, in fact, made the Turkish state a persistent violator, not only of the human and civil rights of its minorities, but also of those of its vast ethnic Turkish majority.”

No book review can do justice to Dr. Vryonis’ monumental study. It must be read in its entirety to obtain the full impact of the catastrophe that destroyed the Greek community of Istanbul and the lessons for today regarding Cyprus and the Aegean.

Gene Rossides is President of the American Hellenic Institute and former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury

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Elder Sophrony: On Eastern Religions

By Elder Sophrony of Essex

- For a Muslim to become a Christian, he must wait until he receives great Grace, so that he is prepared to be martyred for Christ. If he does not receive this Grace, let him wait.

- Someone passed sequentially through Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and black magic. In all these religions at the same time he did magic. As soon as he became Orthodox, he wanted to practice along with this magic, but he was unable to do it. From this he realized that magic is the foundation of all religions and that religions are dead, their leaders are dead, but Christ is the living God.

- For many years exorcisms must be read for those who came from doing magic. This is what the early Church did.

- Buddhism has some truths, but it has one human truth, which reaches to "zero", that is, with concentration-meditation man reaches the non-being from which we came from. It is an existential suicide. Christ leads us to theosis, to communion with the Triune God.

- Some say that Buddhism has nothing to do with demonism. However, those who speak thus know Buddhism only from books and speak theoretically. Action is different.

- Some say that meditation brings them a certain peace. Externally this appears good, but these people are possessed by conceit and this results in carnal warfare. Even if they leave Buddhism, they again have carnal warfare. This shows the satanism of this method.

- There is a difference between Buddhist and Orthodox asceticism. In Buddhism they try to make a disclaimer and they reach nirvana. They confuse a reflection with mystical vision. They see created light with their mind. This was best done with Plotinus, in Neo-Platonism. The Fathers know this, and we can call it the "cloud of unknowing", but they went beyond this and reached the vision of the uncreated Light. Then they experience that the Light comes from a Person and not from an idea, and they feel a personal relationship with God and, at the same time, there develops a great love for God and the whole world until martyrdom and "self-hatred".

From I Knew A Man In Christ: The Life and Times of Elder Sophrony, the Hesychast and Theologian (Οίδα άνθρωπον εν Χριστώ: Βίος και πολιτεία του Γέροντος Σωφρονίου του ησυχαστού και θεολόγου) by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.

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When Elder Porphyrios Prevented A Divorce

A spiritual child of Elder Porphyrios, who went by the initials L.A., recalls the following:

Our marriage began with the best of presuppositions and from the start Elder Porphyrios, whom we often telephoned, told us not to avoid having children.

A little later, after our child was born, we did not get along and we decided to get a divorce. We also had something against the Elder, may God forgive us. Instead of foreseeing our marriage dissolution with his gift of which we had personal experience, he encouraged us to have children.

However, when our infant began to grow up we became conscious of the fact that it would be criminal if we got a divorce. So we forgot our differences and decided to make up despite the fact that we would both have preferred a divorce. (We saw no other way out.)

Three years before his death, Elder Porphyrios told us, "If you didn't have that child you would now be divorced and God only knows what would have happened to you. That's why I told you to have a child. You saved your marriage which is sacred, like all the Sacraments of the Church."

He continued, "You'll create a happy family if you always think of this image which I'll now describe to you. Your child will hold each of you by the hand. He will walk ahead to show you the road and you will follow."

Source

Another spiritual child, Mr. N.N., recalls:

A young lady, a friend of mine, was engaged. At one stage, some differences between her and her fiance cropped up. Neither the girl, nor her mother, who knew about the whole affair, told the father what was happening. At one particular moment, during the course of things, it looked like the engagement was going to be broken off.

One afternoon, Elder Porphyrios called my home. I was absent at the time, he told my wife to tell me to go and see him as soon as possible.

I went to the Elder straight away, who started talking about the girl's fiance, as soon as I went in. He started describing his character to me and telling me that he was a reliable fellow. I had no idea about the differences that the girl had with her fiance and couldn't understand why he was telling me those things. "Elder," I asked, "Why are you telling me this? What's happening?"

He replied, "Her parents are a couple of egotists and they gave birth to another egotist. Instead of doing what she should do, before God, she judges everything in a worldly way. That's why she misunderstood certain things and is now ready to break off her engagement. Her fiance may have been a little misled by his family, but he's basically a good chap."

When I returned home I called the girl's mother and the girl herself. I told them what Elder Porphyrios had told me. I asked them both to go and see the Elder the next morning and to talk with him. They went; the matter was sorted out, and the girl got married. She now lives happily with her husband and children.

Source

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A White Dove Welcomes the Ecumenical Patriarch to Crete

By John Sanidopoulos

As Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was about to enter the Sacred Monastery of the Honorable Forerunner in Korakies earlier today, a white dove perched atop the Holy Gospel which was held by the priest. This caught the people by surprise, and the Ecumenical Patriarch smiled and venerated the Holy Gospel as the dove remained steady.

As the priest continued into the main church of the Monastery, the dove moved from the Holy Gospel to his shoulder then onto his kalimavki. The dove remained there as the priest entered the church, until another priest took it and released it into the beautiful blue sky of Crete.

This event was called by hierarchs and priests a "welcoming" of the Ecumenical Patriarch to the island of Crete.

Of course, one cannot help but associate this event, which took place in a Monastery dedicated to St. John the Baptist, with the baptism of Christ in the Jordan when the Holy Spirit as a dove appeared above Him.

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Fr. John Romanides: On Moralism

By Fr. John Romanides

The biblical tradition as preserved by the Fathers cannot be identified with or reduced to a system of moral precepts or Christian ethics. It is rather a therapeutical asceticism which is not daunted by any degree of malady of the heart or noetic faculty short of its complete hardening. To take the shape of this asceticism without its heart and core and to apply it to a system of moral precepts for personal and social ethics is to produce a society of puritanical hypocrites who believe they have a special claim on God's love because of their morality, or predestination, or both. The commandments of Christ cannot be fulfilled by any simple decision to do so or by any confidence in having been elected. A person with broken legs cannot run in the race no matter how much he wants to. One can do so only when one's legs have healed and have been restored to a competitive degree of power. In the same way, one cannot fulfill the commandments unless he undergoes the cleansing and illumination of his noetic faculty and reaches the threshold of glorification.

Source: "Jesus Christ - The Life of the World"

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Elder Porphyrios: The Disposition of a Moralist

By Elder Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

Man has such powers that he can transmit good or evil to his environment. These matters are very delicate. Great care is needed. We need to see everything in a positive frame of mind. We mustn’t think anything evil about others. Even a simple glance or a sigh influences those around us. And even the slightest anger or indignation does harm. We need to have goodness and love in our soul and to transmit these things. We need to be careful not to harbour any resentment against those who harm us, but rather to pray for them with love. Whatever any of our fellow men does, we should never think evil of him. We need always to have thoughts of love and always to think good of others. Look at Saint Stephen the First-Martyr. He prayed, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." We need to do the same.

We should never think about someone that God will send him some evil or that God will punish him for his sin. This thought brings about very great evil, without our being aware of it. We often feel indignation and say to someone: "Have you no fear of God’s justice, are you not afraid of God’s punishment?" Or else we say, "God will punish you for what you’ve done," or, "O God, do not bring evil on that person for what he did to me"; or, "May that person not suffer the same thing."

In all these cases, we have a deep desire within us for the other person to be punished. Instead of confessing our anger over his error, we present our indignation in a different way, and we allegedly pray to God for him. In reality, however, in this way we are cursing our brother. And if, instead of praying, we say, "May God repay you for the evil you have done to me," then once again we are wishing for God to punish him. Even when we say, "All very well, God is witness," the disposition of our soul works in a mysterious way and influences the soul of our fellow man so that he suffers evil.

When we speak evil about someone, an evil power proceeds from within us and is transmitted to the other person, just as the voice is transmitted on sound waves, and in point of fact the other person suffers evil. It is something like the bewitchment of the evil eye, when someone has evil thoughts about others. This occurs through our own indignation. We transmit our evil in a mystical way. It is not God who provokes evil, but rather people’s wickedness. God does not punish, but our own evil disposition is transmitted to the soul of the other in a mysterious way and does evil. Christ never wishes evil. On the contrary, He commands, "Bless those who curse you…"

…

Within us there is a part of the soul called the ‘moralist’. This ‘moralist’, when it sees someone going astray, is roused to indignation, even though very often the person who judges has strayed in the same way. He does not, however, take this as an occasion to condemn himself, but the other person. This is not what God wants. Christ says in the Gospel: "You, then, that teach others, will you not teach yourself?" While you preach against stealing, do you steal? It may be that we do not steal, but we commit murder; we reproach the other person and not ourselves. We say, for example: "You should have done that and you didn’t do it. So see now what’s happened to you!" When we think of evil, then it can actually happen. In a mysterious and hidden manner we diminish the power of the other person to move towards what is good, and we do him harm. We can become the occasion for him to fall ill, to lose his job or his property. In this way we do harm, not only to our neighbour, but also to ourselves, because we distance ourselves from the grace of God. And then we pray and our prayers are not heard. We "ask and do not receive". Why? Have we ever thought of this? Because we ask wrongly. We need to find a way to heal the tendency within us to feel and think evil about others.

It’s possible for someone to say, "The way that person is behaving, he will be punished by God," and to believe that he is saying this without evil intent. It is not a simple thing, however, to discern whether he has or does not have evil intent. It does not appear clearly. What is hidden in our soul and how that can exercise influence on people and things is a very secret matter.

The same is not true if we say with a sense of awe that another person is not living well and that we should pray for God to help him and grant him repentance; that is, neither do we say, nor deep down do we desire that God will punish him for what he does. In this case not only do we not do harm to our neighbour, but we do him good. When someone prays for his neighbour, a good force proceeds from him and heals, strengthens and revives him. It is a mystery how this force leaves us. But, in truth, the person who has good within him radiates this good power to others, mystically and gently. He sends light to his neighbour and this creates a shield around him and protects him from evil. When we possess a good disposition towards others and pray, then we heal our fellows and we help them progress towards God.

…

Do you see what happens? With the Spirit of God we all become incapable of every sin. We are made incapable because Christ dwells within us. We are henceforth capable only of good. Thus we will acquire the grace of God and become possessed by God. If we abandon ourselves to the love of Christ, then all will be overturned, all will be transfigured, all will be transformed, all will be transubstantiated. Anger, resentment, jealousy, indignation, censure, ingratitude, melancholy and depression will all become love, joy, longing, divine eros. Paradise!

From Wounded by Love: The Life and Wisdom of Elder Porphyrios

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A Fresco Depicting Feasts from September 1-9

The above portion of a fresco comers from the Chapel of St. Demetrios at Vatopaidi Monastery on Mount Athos. Beginning with the top left all the way to the bottom right, it depicts the following: St. Symeon the Stylite (Sept. 1), the martyrdom of St. Mamas (Sept. 2), the martyrdom of St. Anthimos of Nikomedia (Sept. 3), the martyrdom of St. Babylas and the three children with him (Sept. 4), the martyrdom of St. Zachariah the father of St. John the Baptist (Sept. 5), the martyrdom of St. Sozon (Sept. 7), Sts. Joachim and Anna (Sept. 9), and the nativity of the Theotokos (Sept. 8).

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Holy New Martyr Polydoros of Cyprus (+ 1794)

St. Polydoros of Cyprus (Feast Day - September 3)

Polydoros was born in Nicosia, Cyprus around 1740. His parents Hadjiloukas and Lourdanou were God-respecting and devout persons, and made sure to give their child a Christian upbringing. He was a parishioner of the Holy Church of the Archangel Michael in Tripiotis.

When Polydoros grew up, he was naturally intelligent and creative and for this reason he got started in the trade business. For his work, he began to travel in various parts of the world including Egypt. For a time, he followed the advice of his parents, and was careful about who he made friends with and their voices echoed permanently in his ears and restrained him from getting into bad company. However with time his attention became weak. In one of his travels in the country of the Nile, he became acquainted with a rich renegade from Zakynthos and went under his service.

In this job, he became connected with various types of men his age who had no moral barriers. Very soon Polydoros began to live a similar life, drinking and getting drunk, playing cards and spending the whole night until dawn in the various joints of debauchery.

One evening in one of these places of pleasure, he became very drunk and in his drunkenness he changed his religion and became Muslim. His new religion however did not offer any joy to him and neither could it offer him the minimal mental satisfaction. Despite the money that he gained, the positions and the greatness that his new life ensured him, he could not find any happiness in his life. On the contrary the guilt that began to wake up in him and started to grow day by day and multiply, could not let him find rest. His conscience hit him hard and without mercy; it was a whip which strickened him without pity.

One evening while he was in such a mental agitation, he remembered his house with sweet nostalgia. His parents were illiterate but they had the education of faith and virtue. Before they went for sleep in the evening, they all used to kneel down in front of the icon of the Virgin Mary and prayed to her to look after them from the Turks. Now, it was the religion of these same Turks that he bowed to. Then he remembered the advice of his good mother. She told him the following words once when he did something which he should not have done and felt uneasy and distressed: "My child, the only thing that appeases and gives peace to an upset conscience is repentance and confession". This recollection strengthened him somehow but also pushed him without any delay or postponement to leave Egypt and go to Beirut. When he reached there, with great agony he ran to see the local Orthodox Bishop. When he found him, deeply crushed, he fell in front of him and requested to accept his confession. He told him everything. He did not withhold anything. The Bishop, who was a devoted clergyman, listened to him with compassion and teardrops of affection. At the end, after he gave him comfort which strengthened him, the Bishop advised him that for his safety and in order to find peace he should resort to a monastery.

Polydoros listened to him with obedience. He thanked the good spiritual father, and left and hurried to execute the Bishop's advice. He took residence in a monastery, however he remained there for only a short time. Under the fear of exposing his spiritual father he soon left. He traveled to various places and ended up at the island of Chios. There he visited another spiritual father [St. Makarios of Corinth] and once again with pain in his heart, he confessed and asked him to once more allow him to become accepted in the Orthodox Church. The spiritual father accepted his repentance. He read the forgiveness prayer and anointed him with Holy Myrrh and gave him Communion.

After his re-establishment in the bosom of the Church, Polydoros left for the city of New Ephesus in Asia Minor. His desire to really rectify his sin did not leave him in peace. A thought twirled continuously in his brain. The thought was for him to visit the Turkish Authorities and with frankness to declare in front of them his faith in Christ and his devotion to his will. One day he presented himself in front of the mufti (the Muslim judge and priest) and without fear asked him:

"Tell me Master, is it legal and right to give back a fake thing which was given to me a little while ago with fraud?"

The mufti replied affirmatively: "Yes, it is legal".

Then Polydoros added: "I request that you give me this decision in writing". The mufti wrote his decision and gave it to him. As soon as Polydoros took the decision (the fetfa) in his hand, without losing any time, he ran to the Muslim judge (the Cadi) and showing the decision of the mufti he told him: "Ten years ago I was cheated and I was made to deny my faith. I threw away the gold which I had in order to take the dirt. Now I regret it. I am sorry for what I did and am distressed and I cry. Take your dirt and I will take back my gold. I was Christian! I will remain Christian! And I am ready to die Christian!"

Upon hearing the words of the confessor, the cadi tried hard to retain his anger. He tried to say something. He began with flatteries. He advanced to promises. He tried to make Polydoros change his mind by promising him money, positions and honors... and concluded: "Once you were Christian. Now however you are Muslim".

"No! No!" Polydoros protested intensely, "I am Christian and I will die Christian". The cadi was not disappointed. He continued the promises. Seductive promises. Improbable. But nothing.

At the end, when he was convinced that his efforts were lost, he ordered for Polydoros to be seized, and put him in prison were they begun the tortures. All night the executioners tortured the martyr. To count the different kinds of tortures Polydoros went through is impossible. We will say only this. The next day with his face deformed from the all night abuse and his body broken from the cruel beatings, Polydoros was led in front of a council made of Turkish nobles. For the second time Polydoros with enviable frankness declared his faith in Christ and his irrevocable decision to die for it. In all the threats and pressures which they made, his answer was: "I am Christian! I will remain Christian! And I will die Christian". His inflexible insistence had angered all the members of the Council, and in order to find a exit in the impasse, they ordered to throw the Saint once again in prison and have the tortures repeated. The executioners with unrestrained fury seized the victim again and threw him in a dark cell. There with cannibalistic passion, which is so well known even in our times, they begun their macabre work. They tied up the hands and the legs of the martyr in order for him not to be able to move and with whips they strucked him constantly everywhere. The Saint's body became a single wound from which the blood ran abundantly. After that, they put boiling hot irons and burning bricks on his shoulders and his armpits. In addition they inserted an iron rod into his penis. At the same time, some others put over his head a burning hot pot as a cap. We will not mention any other tortures as it is too much for us, not to mention that it is difficult for someone even to read them. We will add only this. The courageous martyr endured all of them with courage and unique perseverance. He endured them by praying with faith: "Lord forgive me". He had already decided for death and thus the pain did not scare him. With these martyrdoms he passed the whole night.

In the morning some executioners took the martyr and led him with insults and shoutings to the square in front of the judge, where he waited seated on a tall platform between a lot of Ottoman officials. A little below gallows were set up. The martyr looked first at the gallows and later at the judge. He felt a feeling of comfort seeing the first, and disgust as he looked at the second.

"Hey! what do you say?", shouted the judge with a sardonic laughter. "Did you knock some sense in your brains or you still insist in your opinions?".

"I lost my brains only when I was carried away and exchanged my faith with yours. It is madness to throw away gold, in order to take dirt. Now I have found my sanity. Now that I have returned to Christ".

In hearing the words of the martyr, the judge lost his patience and shouted: "Hang this gavour (pig) so that we can finish with him. Hang him, his mind does not change". The executioners led Polydoros to the gallows. After he approached them with determined steps, he kissed the rope with respect, made his cross with devotion and serenely accepted the rope to pass through his neck. The executioner pulled the rope. The body was raised in the air, while the Saint's soul flew to the blue chaos of the sky. The corpse of the Saint remained on the gallows for three days. The third day the Turks ordered the Christians to take him and bury him. Some people with good souls, Christians and paradoxically Muslims, lowered the Saint's body from the gallows, washed it with clean water and buried him near the Armenian cemetery with teardrops of admiration and love.

A Miracle in New Ephesus

In New Ephesus lived a Christian named Nicholas. This unfortunate man was possessed by a demon, which spoke with his mouth like the child of the Philipians, and revealed many times the secrets of those who fled to him. One day the sick man met a cleric, who had in his possession the relics of St. Polydoros and a piece of the rope of the noose, and was saddened by him. He took the holy relics and went to his house:

As soon as he reached his door and the demoniac saw him he screamed:

“You here? You here? What have you come to do? What do you want from me?”

The priest, without losing time, took the holy relics from his bosom and made the sign of the cross towards the sick man.

The priest approached. He put the relics and the piece of the rope above him, and the sick man made a loud cry and then calmed down. The demon had fled and the man had become well again.

The Relics of St. Polydoros Go to Athens

During the Asia Minor Catastrophy of 1922 a Hieromonk, the Chancellor of the Holy Metropolis of Ephesus, Kyrillos Psillos, grabbed the holy skull of the martyr to save it. The furiousness of the Turks against clerics at the time was unbelievable. Their fury was directed further against the churches and the holy relics. When they uncovered clerics or other people holding icons, relics, etc., they slaughtered them without discussion. The act of the Chancellor was very bold, and had they found him, he would have paid immediately with his life. This pious worker of Christ however was decisive. He dressed like a gerontissa [an abbess, but in this case it might just mean an old woman], and took with him this very-precious treasure, made his cross and left for the ships departing for Greece. An endless line was waiting before him to be searched. As if arriving at the Turkish prison to be searched, the Turks were furious. They had already uncovered some in disguise. At that hour when the faithless reviled and beat their victims and screamed in terror, the disguised Kyrillos came to be searched.

The pious cleric, without losing his composure, clenched the skull of the Saint to his chest and whispered inside himself:

“O Saint Polydoros, save me.”

And he saved him.

"Hurry up Turkish woman", the Turk cried and pushed him ahead. In a short time the hieromonk was found dropped into a boat of salvation with his treasure. How did this happen? He did not remember. He didn’t understand. He was saved along with the holy skull of the martyr. When he arrived in Athens, he deposited it in the Holy Church of St. Katherine in Plaka. Dozens of the faithful went every day to venerate it. And thousands every year on September 3rd, which is his feast day, hastened to honor the martyr, the renegade who repented and sought His grace.

St. Polydoros Returns To Cyprus

On August 28th of 2012 the holy skull of St. Polydoros was brought to Cyprus and housed in a church dedicated to him in his hometown. He was received by Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus.

Apolytikion in the Third Tone
A great boast of Lefkosia, a great protector are you of Ephesus, a great glory of the two cities, of a sacred offspring were you shown to be by the purple of your blood. Intercede with Christ God, Polydoros, that we may be delivered from dangers and sorrows.

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